


Falling, In Your Arms

by Meghan8awesome



Category: Soul Eater, Soul Eater Not!, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Lance, Bisexual Matt Holt, Buckle up for the long haul my guys, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I'm going to add tags as they show up as well, I'm going to explain all the things, Insecure Lance, Kolivan and Coran are married, Lance is a weapon, Let's Put Latte into Soul Eater she said, Let's get heavy on the Soul Eater Lore, M/M, Major Character Injury, Matt and Lance are a weapon/weapon, Matt is a weapon, Multi, Rating May Go Up As We Go, Slow Burn, There are a bunch of side pairings but Latte is where we live here, There's a lot coming, There's going to be some violence, You do not need to know much about Soul Eater for this, i suddenly don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2020-02-26 02:05:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meghan8awesome/pseuds/Meghan8awesome
Summary: In a world where humans can be weapons and witches have themes, Madness creeps in the crevasses and worms its way into the cracks in the Order. Demons rise again and a new evil comes calling. Two boys must fight for those they promised to protect, but most importantly each other. Their enemy will stop at nothing to tear them apart, divided, there is no hope.When his weapon gene activated, Lance had no idea what the road ahead had in-store for him. He wanted to help people, protect them as best he could, but in order to do that he'd need a partner.Matt Holt, a genius in his own right. His dream has always been the EAT class at the DWMA. The elite program requires weapons must have partners, unless given special permission.No rules say these two can't be partners.Lance and Matt become the only Weapon/Weapon pair in the world. The road will be tough but they've got each other to lean on. Especially when someone's a mole and the two boys get caught in the crossfire of an age-old war they weren't ready for yet.





	1. Hey Look, A Blind Corner

**Author's Note:**

> I DID A THING! Soul Eater has always been a serious favourite of mine, it holds a very special place in my heart. A few weeks ago I had this idea to combine Voltron and Soul Eater. Specifically to throw Voltron into Soul Eater and see where it went! This is the product of that venture. But who would I be if I didn't make it Latte?
> 
> I know way too much about the inner workings of the Soul Eater universe now so the information you're about to receive is correct to the best of my knowledge. With a few creative liberties considering these are the Voltron characters in the Soul Eater world.
> 
> I will be updating tags as I go, so there's going to be a lot up there. I hope you're ready for Slow Burn, Meghan style cause this is going to be agonizing. 
> 
> The Inspirational song for this fic is:  
> Cannibal by Kesha. (I really don't know why but it is so we're rolling)
> 
> (For those wondering, I didn't let myself post this until I had a solid amount of work done on chapter 5 of Gotta Catch, which as of right now is half completed and will be up soon!)

‘ _ A sound soul dwells, within a sound mind, and a sound body.’ _

“Hundreds of years ago the world was at war. Humans and Witches were at war. The witches with their ability to use magic, far outmatched the humans and they preyed upon the weaker race. To attempt to turn the tides and allow the humans an attempt to fight back, Death, keeper of the natural order along with the sorcerer Eibon, created what is known as a Demon Weapon, the living combination of a human and an object. The creation of a Demon weapon though required the soul of a witch in order to bind the object and the human’s soul together. Both Death and Eibon found this fact and the process of it to be too inhumane and scrapped the project, hiding the evidence so that no one else could attempt to recreate what they had done.

A witch named Arachne managed to obtain the instructions for the process and through an act of great betrayal to her own kind, killed a fellow witch to bind a human soul to that of an inanimate object and created the first Demon Weapon. She was hunted down and supposedly killed for her crimes. Death in the aftermath of this formed the Death Weapon Meister Academy (the DWMA) in order to house and train Demon weapons in the use of their powers. The academy also trains young humans in the wielding of these Demon weapons as a way to fend off another rising evil.

At one-point Death created a team of these Demon weapons and people who could wield them (meisters). One meister, Asura, trusted by Death but fearing death, turned against his weapon partner in a fit of Madness and ate him, this caused corruption in his soul. The corruption grew and he grew more and more powerful with every innocent soul he took, which in turn made the Madness more and more powerful. The Madness that Asura was now stewing in began to seep into and corrupt others. Death had to take on a Demon weapon of his own, a Death Scythe, to take Asura down and seal him away.

The influence Asura left behind though gave Death a new enemy. The Madness unleashed by Asura spread and the corrupted individuals began taking innocent souls. The DWMA was placed above where Asura had been sealed in order to prevent him from being resurrected. The group now had to branch out in their mission, not only would they teach the young Demon weapons how to use their powers but also train a select few and their meisters to fight against the rising Kishin eggs so that they would never have to face an enemy like Asura ever again. This decision gave rise to the EAT and NOT classes.

The Normally Overcome Target (NOT) and Especially Advanced Talent (EAT) classes provided 2 different programs. The NOT class was for those who did not either desire to fight or have the aptitude to do so while the EAT class was for the small percentage who could and chose to join the fight against both the witches and the Kishin eggs.

Every student who joins the academy starts out in the NOT class and is given opportunities to find a partner and choose whether they join the EAT class or remain in the NOT class. NOT students have a rather typical schooling experience with grade levels and such while the EAT students go through the Star system. A 1-star meister/weapon is the lowest level of clearance while a 3-star is the highest.

Until recently a main goal of EAT students has been to create a Death Scythe by obtaining 99 Kishin eggs and the soul of one witch from Death’s list in order to transform a weapon into a Death Scythe which is an entirely different level of power. The treaty with the Witches after the defeat and re-sealing of Asura on the Moon, brought an end to this practice with the last Death Scythe to ever be made being Soul Eater Evans a number of years ago. Now the EAT students’ only goal is the protection of fellow humans from Kishin eggs and any rogue witches that the Witch Order deems too dangerous.”

The guide book slams closed on the brief summary of the DWMA’s history as the voice reading tapers off. The boy at the desk looks out his window at the desert surrounding Death City, Nevada.

“Tomorrow’s the big day, I finally get a shot at the EAT class.”

~~~~~~~~

Lance McClain is nothing if not excited as he walks up the many, many steps to the front doors of the DWMA. He’s spent months in the NOT class like every newcomer to the academy and today is the day he finally gets a chance to find a partner. He and two of his older siblings had activated their weapon genes a few years prior and moved to Death City so that the prejudice they faced wouldn’t affect the rest of their large family. He’d watched his eldest brother Adam attend the school first, their sister Veronica next and finally himself. Now it was his chance to follow in his siblings’ footsteps and join the EAT class, but first he needs a partner.

He reaches the top of the stairs to find all of the partner less weapon and meister students gathered before the doors. He makes his way through the crowd toward the large doors to find a registration desk manned by the ever lovely Allura, daughter of the headmaster and her weapon partner Shay.

“Good morning ladies! Looks like a big turn out this year huh?” He greets as he makes his way towards the table.

“Good morning Lance!” Shay replies, a bright smile on her sweet face, a direct contrast to the scowl that Allura wears when she notices Lance.

“The turnout is always like this, it’s a mandatory activity for unpaired students. Now I need to see your student ID card to sign you I so you can participate.” Allura snaps grumpily.

“Whoa, someone is grouchy this morning! And here I thought the sight of my lovely face would be enough to frighten the gloom from such a lovely lady.” He smirks.

“Being subjected to your mediocre attempts at flirting is not something that would cheer anyone up. Now hand over your card or go back to your apartment because my patience is wearing thin.”

Lance pulls his ID card quickly out of his coat pocket and Allura snatches it from his hand. He looks at Shay in confusion at Allura’s negative attitude. Lance knows he’s kind of annoying sometimes but Allura and Shay are his friends, they usually at least tolerate his bad lines. It’s not like he’s being an asshole or anything.

Shay looks back at him and shrugs. She’s got no idea what’s up either.

Allura shoves his ID and his weapon designation badge into his hands and shoos him away without a word. He looks back and sees Shay giving her meister an odd look and preparing a scolding for treating Lance so badly.

Lance shrugs off the rough treatment and sets upon finding himself a nice and easily accessible place to stand. He wants to be visible so he can draw the attention of any potential partners. He waits for 20 minutes before Allura and Shay become visible on the platform by the door, setup for this occasion. Allura has the microphone.

“As you all know today is the day you officially choose your partner. Whether you’re a weapon or a meister, your goal is to make a connection and test the compatibility of your soul wavelengths. If you are caught in any inappropriate activity you will be removed from the event and depending on the severity of the offense, you could be expelled from the academy.

“Now once you have found your partner you are to come back up to Shay and I at the table and declare your partnership so that we can fill out the appropriate paperwork to make it official. You must also declare your intentions of either joining the EAT class or remaining a NOT student. If you do not manage to find a partner at this time, there are similar events held multiple times throughout the year and you will have another chance.” Allura explains in her most no-nonsense tone. Lance thinks she must have been spending a lot of time with Professor Moraic, the stoic man rubbing off on her.

Shay takes the microphone from her meister, “You can start as soon as the first period bell rings. You have full access to the non-restricted areas of the school until the final bell rings at 4 o’clock. Now get ready and I hope your souls guide you true!” she chirps brightly moments before the first bell rings.

The students immediately begin to mull about, chatting and clasping hands. A few make their way into the school, probably looking for a good place to hide as a test for any prospective partners. Lance stays right where he is, next to the railing and with a beautiful view of the city and the desert beyond it.

The first person who approaches him is a slight girl, the meister tag very obvious on her shirt. They make small talk for a while, talking about little things like what kind of weapon he is and what stream of instruction they want to be in. They’re both aiming for EAT and decide to see how compatible they are. A firm handshake later and they part ways amicably considering the literal shock that had them ripping their hands apart.

This is not a good start, but Lance isn’t bothered in the slightest. He’s got all day after all and over a hundred other people to talk to.

~~~~~~~~

It’s noon when a break is called for lunch.

There have been 20 pairs registered so far and the pickings are still pretty far from slim, so Lance makes his way to the area that’s been set up for them to eat. One hamburger and a bag of chips later and he’s back at it.

He’s moved from his spot by the railing, over to a nice patch of grass at the back of the school. It’s sunnier there and more open so he takes the chance to lay down for a bit. He lets the calm of the wind through the grass and trees relax the tension in his shoulders. He’s still excited but he’s a little anxious too. The day is half over after all and he’s still partner-less.

He’s broken out of his thoughts by a figure looming over him.

“Hello there. Come to relax in the grass with me?” He asks the person suavely with one eye open.

The boy above him is tall and broad, with features that look sculpted by the gods themselves. He's honestly beautiful and the meister badge pinned to his shirt makes Lance’s already piqued interest rise another notch.

“Not really but I wouldn’t be opposed. The names Ryan by the way, Ryan Kinkade.” The tall boy says as he plants himself in a sitting position on Lance’s right.

“Nice to meet you Ryan, I’m Lance McClain.” Lance smiles before turning his face from the sky and looking at Ryan’s now widened eyes.

“McClain? As in Adam and Veronica?”

“I’m the baby of the family.” Lance gives a sunny smile.

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive. I’ve seen some of the midrange EAT demonstrations and they’re both pretty amazing polearms, are you one too?” Ryan tries.

“Yup, though they’re forms are a bit more impressive than mine. I mean it’s hard to live up to a Bardiche and a War scythe when you’re just a basic Halberd.” He shrugs.

“What do you mean basic? Halberds are impressive in their own right.” Ryan insists.

Lance smiles to himself at the gesture. Ryan seems like a decent guy, now to find out if he’s looking at the EAT class.

“That’s what Adam keeps telling me, but he’s my big brother and kind of has to support me. I don’t know how EAT material a Halberd is though so I’ve gotta find a partner who’s willing to help me get there cause I’m not sure I could do it alone.”

“I think you’d be perfect for the EAT class, and if you’d like to give it a shot, I’d be more than happy to help you get there.” Ryan holds out his right hand to shake and Lance can feel the other’s wavelength revving up.

Lance reaches forward with his own hand, soul wavelength humming under his skin and clasps hands with Ryan in a firm handshake.

Nothing happens.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it’s not what Lance is looking for. He’s expecting something more when he finds his perfect partner.

‘Well, that was anticlimactic. It’s good to know that there’s at least one person here I’m compatible with though.’ Lance thinks to himself. He’s trying not to let the disappointment show on his face.

“Well, at least we’re not entirely incompatible right?” Ryan says, trying to break the awkward silence Lance hadn’t noticed had fallen over them.

“Right. So, what do you want to do now?” Lance asks.

“Well, I was kind of expecting there to be something more than that if I’m honest, but we can work together so if you want to go register that’s cool.” Ryan says sheepishly.

“I was expecting more too.” Lance looks down at his feet, “How bout this, we go wander around for a bit longer and if we can’t find anyone else, we meet back up and register together? We know we’re compatible and it will give us some time to think about it and make a solid choice. Sound good?”

“That actually sounds like a great idea Lance. How about we meet up at 3:30 by the registration table partner or not? That way neither of us is left hanging if something happens.”

The boys smile at each other and nod in agreement before they both get up and head their separate ways.

Lance finds himself wandering the halls of the main floor of the academy. It’s cooler in the halls, he passes classroom after classroom. Some of the rooms are full, with workshops and club meetings, but most of the rooms he passes are empty since no classes have started yet. The academy holds this partner finding event a week before classes start so that everyone can settle in to their living arrangements before classes.

He’s wandering aimlessly, lost in thoughts of what it will be like to finally be on the path to his dreams. He wants to help people, to keep people like his family safe. He’s seen firsthand the devastation kishin eggs can cause and he wants to prevent others from seeing what he has.

His arrival at the academy was eye opening to say the least, the innocents he had seen being attacked and the meisters and weapons he had seen fighting had cemented his desire to join the EAT class rather than just train his powers.

He misses the sound of footsteps quickly growing louder and suddenly finds himself flat on his ass in the middle of the hallway with an older student in front of him rubbing their head in pained confusion.

“Shit man are you okay? I was in rush and wasn’t watching where I was going.” The stranger moves closer, leaning forward and offering his left hand to Lance to help him up.

“I’m fine, just surprise—”

As soon as their hands meet, a pleasant wave of warmth passes through Lance. His soul aches at the contact and he meets the older boy’s wide eyes with his own shock.

“…You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a partner, would you?” the older boy asks after a beat of silence. They’re still holding hands.

“Much to the dissatisfaction of my older brother.” Lance replies and winces at how that sounds.

“Your brother not like the idea of weapons and meisters much?” the boy quirks an eyebrow in interest.

“Not really no. He’s had some pretty traumatising experiences and doesn’t want me, or my sister really involved with the whole thing. I’m Lance by the way.”

“Matt. I’m sorry it’s like that Lance, you shouldn’t be pressured into any way of thinking even by your family.” They’re still holding hands.

And Lance is still on the floor.

They stare at each other, basking in the pleasant vibrations in both of their souls before a throat being cleared snaps them back to reality.

“Are you boys alright there?” Professor Smythe asks from a few feet to Matt’s right.

Lance scrambles to his feet, still holding onto Matt’s hand and nods to the teacher. Coran smiles at the two conspiratorially and turns to continue on his way down the hall.

“I suggest you make your way to the registration table post haste, it is almost 3:30 after all and there will be a last-minute rush to register pairs.” Professor Smythe calls over his shoulder.

They stare at the teacher’s retreating back before looking at each other.

Matt glances down at their joined hands and then back up to Lance’s face. He smiles warmly at Lance.

“I don’t know about you but I’m thinking we’re pretty compatible. You want to give being my partner a shot?”

“I think compatible is putting it mildly, I’d be stupid to walk away from this. My soul is practically tingling.” Lance smiles right back.

The two boys make their way to the front of the school and the registration table. Coran wasn’t lying when he said there’d be a last-minute rush. The line at the table is at least thirty people long and growing. They make their way quickly to the end of the line, keeping a sure hold on each other’s hands.

They are ten people back from the front of the line when Lance catches sight of Ryan hanging around the side of the school. He catches Ryan’s eyes and gives a little wave before sheepishly gesturing towards Matt standing beside him. Ryan doesn’t look upset by the fact that Lance found a more compatible partner, but his smile isn’t as big as it was when they’d met earlier that day.

Matt sees Lance gesturing at him and follows the younger boy’s gaze over to the tall boy at the side of the school.

“Friend of yours?” He asks.

“Not really, I met him earlier today actually. He and I are decently compatible but decided to hold off until later to consider our options. We said we’d meet up back out here if we didn’t find anyone else.” Lance explains, squeezing Matt’s hand a little bit at the mention of finding someone else.

“I saw him there and I didn’t want him to think I’d just ditched him, he’s a nice enough guy and just standing him up would be mean.”

“Well I’m glad you decided to keep looking instead of settling for that. I somehow ended up pretty deep in the school and I was worried I’d wreck all my chances but couldn’t find my way out in time for lunch.” Matt laughs.

They’re five pairs back from the front of the line now, still firmly holding each other’s hand. Lance considers their clasped hands for a moment. He really doesn’t want to let go. He’s genuinely afraid to let go of Matt’s hand and that freaks him out to a degree.

“Hey Matt, you feel the soul tingles, too right?” Matt nods, “Does the idea of letting go of my hand make you really uncomfortable?” Matt’s eyebrows scrunch up at the thought.

“Now that you mention it, I really really don’t want to let go of your hand.” Matt looks confusedly at Lance who’s nodding.

“Me either. No one ever told me something like this could happen. Is it normal?”

“Not really, it’s been recorded to have happened, but those pairs had resonance rates that were ridiculously strong. They were already established as partners before it happened, it doesn’t make sense that it would happen so early on.” Matt says, rubbing his chin with his right hand in thought.

Lance is about to reply when he sees the pair in front of them walks away from the table where Shay and Allura are still sat, now joined by Lance’s brother. Adam meets his brother’s eye and his eyebrows shoot up at the sight of Lance holding Matt’s hand. Before Adam can say anything, Shay pipes up from his right.

“Oh Matt! Lance! Congratulations!”

Matt and Lance step forward toward the table, hands still clasped between them.

“Alright, ID cards please both of you.” Allura sticks her hand out and gestures for the cards before realising exactly who is standing in front of her.

“Uh, Adam, can you go get Professor Moraic and Professor Naleq for me please?” Adam scowls but complies, standing up and moving quickly to the doors before disappearing behind them.

“Something wrong Allura?” Matt asks.

“Not wrong necessarily but something very unusual. You’re aware that you’re both weapons, right?” She looks back and forth between the two of them.

Matt nods and Lance for some reason isn’t even remotely surprised that this has happened. He really should be but there is genuinely nothing surprising to him about this turn of events. Lance never bothered to look at Matt’s tag, more focused on how right he felt when his wavelength brushed against Matt’s.

“Alright, well as long as you’re both aware. We’re bringing in a couple teachers to oversee your registration to make sure everything is on order so no one can challenge anything okay?” Allura explains quickly.

Lance means to ask what she means by challenge when Adam returns with the professors hot on his heels.

Professor Naleq steps forward with a warm smile, “So, what seems to be the problem here?”

“These two wish to register as an official pair.” Says Allura.

“Alright? I don’t know why that would require the both of us to be here—”

“They’re both weapons sir.” Shay interrupts quietly.

Both professors turn to stare at Lance and Matt for a moment, they see the two boys are still holding hands.

“Well, that changes matters a bit. Allura dear, could you hand me your mirror? I need to call the headmaster.” Professor Naleq says, turning to look at the young meister. Allura hands him a small mirror and the teacher breathes on it to fog it up before writing the requisite 42-42-564 to contact the headmaster directly.

“Afternoon Blaytz, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Alfor, headmaster of the DWMA says brightly as his face becomes visible through the small mirror.

“We have an interesting situation at the new pair registration table,” Alfor gestures for Blaytz to continue, “We’ve got two students registered as weapons who’d like to become an official pair.”

“Well that is interesting. It’s not against the rules but it is rather uncommon for two weapons to be more compatible than a meister and a weapon. Did both the boys have a chance to test their compatibility with at least one meister today?” Blaytz looks at the two boys who both nod.

“The strongest compatibility they’ve felt today has been with each other Alfor. And judging by how tightly they’re holding each other’s hands I’d say their compatibility is a little insane.” He turns to address Matt and Lance, “have you two been holding hands since you tested each other?”

Both boys nod again.

“The thought of letting go makes us both really uncomfortable, almost scared.” Matt explains.

Professor Moraic’s eyebrows shoot up at that.

“Incredible. Kolivan, what do their souls look like right now?” Alfor addresses the stoic man.

Kolivan focuses intently on the two boys. Their souls come to life before his eyes, one a vibrant blue and the other a soft but strong orange. The blue soul was bright and happy but unsure, while the orange soul was muted as if trying to avoid detection but still warm and kind. The two look well balanced though maybe a bit unconventional.

“They make an interesting pair indeed.” The serious teacher replies after a moment longer scrutinising the pair.

“Well then, if you can see no problems with their resting resonance then I have no issues with these two boys becoming partners.” Blaytz turns the tiny mirror towards Lance and Matt, “The path you have chosen will be a challenging one. You will have to attend the weapon specific classes as well as the pair classes, which you would have had to do either way but you both will have to attend the meister specific classes as well. You’re going to have to work harder than you thought for this to work boys. I hope you’re both up for the challenge.” The headmaster warns them sternly before cracking a smile.

“Good luck gentlemen. Allura and Shay will get all your paperwork filled out accordingly. Congratulations.” The mirror goes dark.

“Well, that was fun.” Lance whispers.

Matt snorts. Professor Moraic heads back into the school while Professor Naleq turns to help Allura and Shay with filling out Lance and Matt’s registration papers. The boys stand there awkwardly, unneeded for this step. It’s at this moment where they realise that there is no one behind them in line.

They couldn’t have been the last pair, right?

The final bell of the day echoes over the cobblestones.

Well, guess they are the last pair of the day. Wow they cut that close.

“So, since we’re making this an official partnership, we should figure out our living arrangements and which class we want to join huh?” Matt prods, squeezing Lance’s hand again lightly.

“Probably a good idea. I guess we were too caught up in our resonance to hash out the details.” Lance chuckles sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand.

“Well, I’m living in the academy dorms right now because my sister and her partner decided to do off campus housing. I wouldn’t be opposed to staying in the dorms, but I think moving in together would be a major benefit to our partnership.” Matt continues.

“I’m off campus right now with my older brother, he doesn’t have a partner so I’m living with him until I find my own, which is now I guess.” Lance trails off awkwardly at the realisation that this guy standing next to him is his partner now.

Matt laughs. “Yeah, it is now isn’t it? It’s pretty crazy that after today our lives change forever. It’s almost like a marriage proposal in a way.” Matt muses.

Lance just kind of gapes at the other boy before being snapped out of it by Allura clearing her throat expectantly.

“I hate to interrupt what must be a truly riveting conversation, but we’ve got your papers filled out. All we need you two to do is read them over, declare your class request and sign, then you’ll be an official pair.” Allura pipes up from the table.

Blaytz has left and presumably returned to whatever he was doing when he was summoned. Adam on the other hand is still staring at the two boys. He’s on Shay’s left, her hand on his arm, keeping him from moving from his current position. At least Lance hopes she’s keeping him from moving. Lance can feel the displeasure rolling off of his older brother.

Matt and Lance step towards the table and start to read over the papers in front of them. They know what they say at this point, all weapons and meisters had to read an example version of the contract in the workshop held before the event.

Lance quickly signs the forms in front of him while Matt does the same on his right.

The younger boy can feel Adam glaring daggers at their still interlocked hands.

“Alrighty! Now we just need you to declare your class choice and you can be on your way to get everything sorted!” Shay exclaims brightly, grabbing the forms they had just signed.

They don’t even look at each other as they both clearly say, “EAT class.”

Adam’s glare increases in intensity, but Lance doesn’t flinch, and Matt doesn’t pay the man any mind.

“Well, that’s all settled then! Enjoy the rest of your day gentlemen!” Shay gathers the papers piled on the table and follows Allura inside the school.

Adam doesn’t move. He just continues to stare at Lance. Lance just stares right back, and Matt looks between the two very confused.

“Uh, is there a reason you two are having a staring contest?”

“Not that it’s any of your business but I was just trying to figure out what my little brother was doing at the partner choosing event he was told not to attend.” Adam states, his eyes never leaving Lance’s face.

“Your little brother knows that unlike you, he can’t take on the EAT class alone. I need a partner, and I’ve found one.” Lance bites back.

“You can’t trust a partner to have your back! I thought you’d have learned that by now!” Adam snaps.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on here! What is going on?”

“Matt, this is my older brother Adam McClain. Adam, this is my partner Matt.”

“…You’re brother is Adam McClain? The only current weapon in the entire world to not have a meister and be a full-fledged agent of the DWMA? That Adam?”

“One and the same.” Adam grits out from where he hasn’t moved away from the table.

“He’s against the idea of weapons needing partners to function and has been trying to bend me to those values for two years.” Lance goes to cross his arms over his chest and is reminded that he and Matt are still holding each other’s hand. He lets his arms fall again.

“Dude, that’s not cool. You can have your reasons for your choices but forcing your ideas on other people isn’t okay. Lance should be able to make his own decisions when it comes to whether he wants a partner or not.” Matt says rounding on Adam.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about Matt, so stay out of it.” Adam spits through clenched teeth.

“No. Lance is my partner now which means we’ve got each other’s backs. I’m not going to just stand here and watch you try and force him down a path he hasn’t chosen for himself!”

Lance stares at Matt in shock. Adam can be a stubborn ass, especially when it comes to talk of partners. Adam has his reasons, and they’re good ones, but Lance isn’t like his brother.

“He’s still a kid, and as his guardian I have been acting with his best interests at heart. A partner is not in his best interests and neither is the EAT class. He says he doesn’t have the ability to got it alone, so he won’t be joining the EAT class.” Adam growls out.

Lance squawks at the words from his brother. Before he can jump into the argument himself Matt is already firing back.

“He is a full-fledged student of the DWMA he doesn’t need guardian permission for anything that goes on here. It’s part of the policies surrounding the safety of the students who don’t have guardians or who had to flee here but they apply to all students. You have no power over him whatsoever and you can’t just bully him into listening to you!”

“Whoa whoa! Hey!” Lance pulls Matt back from where he was attempting to get into Adam’s space, “Hold on a minute. I got this okay?” he assures his partner before turning to his brother.

“I know you have your reasons for not trusting the partner system. They’re good reasons, and you’ve seen and been through a lot. I know you’re worried about Veronica and especially me, but you gotta trust us. You know I didn’t make this decision lightly, I put a lot of thought into all my options and this is what I think is best for me. Plus, you gotta admit, I picked a good partner. He recognized you and still wouldn’t back down when he thought I needed it.” Lance smiles weakly.

Adam looks at him sternly for a moment before his expression crumbles a bit, “…He may have earned some points for that, but I that just means I hold my judgement for now.” He sighs.

“I know you’re not a kid anymore, but you’re my baby brother, I can’t not worry about you. I’m still not comfortable with this whole partner thing, but at the very least he’s a weapon too, he understands.” Adam relents.

Lance knows his brother isn’t happy, but this is the closest he’s going to get to Adam’s blessing for his new partnership. He looks quickly back at Matt who’s stopped scowling and is watching Adam a little warily. They make eye contact before Lance looks down at their still intertwined hands before looking pointedly at Adam.

Matt understands and they both inwardly cringe when they let go. Lance rushes over to give Adam a tight hug.

“Thank you.” He whispers in his brother’s ear before he squeezes him tightly once more and lets go.

“We have to make plans for our living arrangements so I think it’s best if we head to the student housing office,” Matt nods in agreement, “You can come with us if you’d like.”

Adam looks at Matt who nods stiffly in confirmation. At the very least this boy will take care of his brother with ferocity. Not many at this academy are willing to disagree with him, even fewer will antagonise him directly. Adam won’t say he likes the guy, but he’s willing to give a little ground.

“I would actually, I want to know where my baby brother is going to live for the next few years so I can come visit.”

Lance smiles before turning back to Matt and holding his hand out for the taller boy to take. The relief on Matt’s face mirror’s Lance’s own as they clasp hands and their soul wavelengths resonate without any urging.

“You two have a ridiculously high resonance rate. Your passive resonance and compatibility is off the charts.” Adam states, adjusting his glasses.

“We figured as much. You saw the looks the teachers were giving us earlier, the things we’re experiencing don’t exactly seem normal.” Matt explains not unkindly.

Lance can tell he’s still on guard because of Adam, it’s a little endearing if he’s being honest. The only ones to defend him so quickly have always been his siblings, it’s nice to know his partner can be trusted the same way.

Adam nods before the trio fall into a stiff silence.

‘I hope this walk is short, cause this is just stifling.’ Lance thinks to himself as they make their way to the housing office.

~~~~~~~~

“So, you’re the famous Adam McClain’s younger brother.” Matt states as they sit in their new living room after bringing in all their boxes from their respective previous residences.

“Yup. I’m the youngest of six but only the three if us have active weapon genes. We figured it would be a good idea to all come here together when the three of us manifested our forms within a few weeks of each other. We don’t know why Adam and Ronnie didn’t manifest sooner but the current theory is that my soul wavelength reacting to me manifesting my form, triggered my siblings’ too.” Lance flops over onto his side on their long couch.

“That’s pretty cool actually. Your soul must have some cool qualities.” Matt moves off the love seat he was just occupying and moves over to the side of the couch Lance’s feet are resting on. He lifts said feet up and slides himself to sit on the couch with his partner’s feet in his lap.

“I doubt it, it was probably just all that raw weapon-ness I exude that did it. Besides, no one who I’ve ever talked to who’s seen my soul can see anything unique about it.” Lance huffs, getting a bit more comfortable where he’s laying as he feels Matt’s soul wavelength harmonise with his own.

“They probably just didn’t know what to look for. If you’ll allow me, I can take a look?” Matt offers.

“If you want to, go for it but don’t get your hopes up, I’m not all that exciting on the inside.”

Matt looks at his new partner in concern. This kid doesn’t think he’s anything special? They resonated at an immensely high rate on their first meeting, it takes more than one person to do that even if that one person has a flexible soul like the infamous Dr. Stein. Matt knows he isn’t on that level by far so there’s no way he could have done it himself.

Instead of immediately pointing these things out to Lance, Matt instead takes a look at his partner’s soul. It’s bright, burning a warm blue in the boy’s chest. It’s a happy colour but the centre is dark, almost sad. It’s vibrating with excess energy and Matt gets the impression that it would be smiling if it could. It’s strong with a lot of potential and with time and training will grow to encompass his whole body, but the most interesting thing about Lance’s beautiful soul is the small little wings that sprout from the back of the little bubble. Matt cocks his head to the side in confusion, he’s never heard of a soul doing that before. Weird.

“I don’t know what you mean by not that exciting. Your soul is strong and vibrant, and I could probably stare at it all day and not get bored if I wasn’t afraid it’s brightness would blind me. There is one thing though, your soul has little wings on the back, it’s kind of cute.” Lance just looks at him skeptically as he’s describing the other boy’s soul.

“Souls don’t get wings like that, that’s weird.” He huffs and turns away from Matt.

“It might be something we should share with the teachers, it could be something important. I’ve never heard of a soul with wings like that, it could be important.” Matt points out, Lance’s feet still settled in his lap.

Ever since they first made contact and felt the thrill of resonating with each other, they take any chance they can get to make physical contact with each other. They don’t feel nearly as uncomfortable as they did the first day, when they aren’t touching, but they still seek out contact with each other whenever possible.

“If you think it’s worth mentioning then we can bring it up on Monday to whoever our professor is.” He shrugs.

“Hey, it could be something super cool! It’s not going to hurt to bring it up.”

“I know, but there’s nothing really special about me, why would I have a cool soul?”

The dark blue centre makes sense now. Lance is the youngest of six and the third weapon. Even though he’s the reason his siblings manifested their forms in the first place, he’s still being out shined by their progress. His older brother is a solo weapon after all and Veronica and her partner Nadia are a force to be reckoned with in their class. Being babied by his siblings and overlooked because of their accomplishments would make anyone feel less than special, he can understand why Lance has such a low self worth.

“I think you’re pretty special.” Matt says quietly as they fall into silence. Lance raises a brow but says nothing.

~~~~~~~~

Monday comes quickly, they’ve got their new apartment fully organized and everything unpacked. They fell asleep pretty early Sunday night from the exhaustion of it all. They learned some things about each other too. Lance’s skincare routine is thorough and necessary, Matt can fall asleep literally anywhere and subsists on a lot of coffee. Lance’s hair is actually really curly, and he guards his straightener with his life (Matt was threatened with severe mutilation if he ever dared damage it, Matt does not wish to anger the god of evil he now lives with) and Matt’s comic book collection is truly his prized possession.

Overall. they’re pretty evenly balanced and that is a good sign.

Now, Monday morning. The first day of classes and the beginning of their partnership. Their first period of the day is homeroom so they can meet their prof and the classmates they’ll be with for the rest of the year. After that, all hell breaks loose. They have Soul Studies, Battle Arts, as well as the lessons broken up specifically for Meisters and Weapons and varying other subjects they have to participate in. The two of them have thrown a bit of a wrench in the scheduling for their year because they have to attend both the meister and weapon classes so they either can’t be at the same time or the two boys have to do the meister lessons after classes are over for the day.

They’re not excited about that idea but they will do what it takes.

Class Crescent Moon is the designated class for the first year EAT students and the room that Matt and Lance head for first thing. Most of the benches in the theater-like class room are empty but some pairs have taken up seats.

“Well partner, where do you want to sit?” Lance asks, gesturing widely to the room.

“That’s a tough decision partner, the pros and cons of everyone must be thoroughly taken into account in order to choose the best seat for our education.” Matt replies, rubbing his chin in deliberation.

They both turn to each other and smile before heading up to a row in the middle of the classroom.

The row they choose is otherwise unoccupied like most of the classroom. Matt takes the time after they’ve sat down to take a look at the other pairs in the room. There are two of them, a large boy talking animatedly to a petite blonde girl with large pigtails, and a pair of girls whispering quietly to each other, one scanning the almost empty room with a cautious eye.

Lance and Matt sit close together, saying nothing, content in the other’s company. There hands are locked together beneath the table out of sight of anyone else in the room. They don’t watch but they are both very aware of their surroundings. Lance mentioned being weirdly nervous about today and Matt is a little on edge because of it.

Their class is scheduled to start in ten minutes and other pairs are only just trickling into the room. Another pair of boys enter the room, one chatting wildly and the other looking both bored and annoyed at the same time. The class slowly fills up with multiple pairs and a couple unpaired meisters waiting for a weapon to join the class.

Meisters who show proficient skill can take part in EAT classes without a weapon partner but a weapon, without express permission from the headmaster, cannot. There are two unpaired meisters in their class, one being a familiar face to Lance. He waves at Ryan as the tall boy enters the classroom. Ryan acknowledges Lance’s invitation and moves to join the pair of boys at their still mostly empty bench.

“Hey Lance, congrats on finding your partner.” He turns to address Matt, “my name’s Ryan Kinkade, nice to meet you.”

“Matt Holt, the pleasure is mine Ryan. Sorry to take a possible partner from under your nose.” He answers somewhat sheepishly.

“Don’t even worry about it, Lance and I agreed when we went our separate ways that day that we might find someone better suited to us, so there aren’t any hard feelings at all. I’m glad we get to be in the same class though.” Ryan smiles warmly at the two.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to talk after that, we had an issue at the registration table. I would have introduced you guys otherwise.” Lance explains.

“An issue at the registration table? I saw the teachers show up, but I didn’t think it was about you guys, what happened?” Ryan seats himself on Lance’s left side and leans in, intrigued.

Matt’s hand tightens around Lance’s at the show of familiarity. Lance squeezes back and Matt breathes.

“Matt and I are both weapons and that’s not a common thing it seems, so they brought in a couple of the teachers to make sure it was okay for us to partner up. There’s nothing in the rules of the school against it and we got the headmaster’s blessing and everything.” Lance rambles.

Ryan is about to reply when a large bang sounds from the front of the room and everyone turns their attention to the man who just feel out of the vents above the teaching dais. There’s a lot of sputtering as the man quickly rights himself.

“Good morning everyone! Welcome to the first-year class for the Especially Advantaged Talent program. I am your homeroom teacher, Professor Coran  Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, and I will be your acting advisor as well as your weapon specific teacher for the next three years. Now before we begin role call, are there any immediate questions?” Professor Smythe wiggles the drywall dust from his rather impressive mustache.

One of the girls sitting in the front row raises her hand slowly.

“Ah wonderful! A curious mind! Go ahead my dear.” He hoots excitedly.

“Uh, yeah, why were you in the ceiling?” the girl drawls.

“An excellent question! The students of the EAT classes, you all, are training to take on the greatest threat to the order of the known universe, the kishin eggs, or kishins. They are slippery devils and are very different in size and shape compared to each other which means you never know who or what could be a kishin so you must be prepared for anything! I took note of who flinched when I came bursting through the ceiling and who didn’t. Remember this for future lessons!” Coran points dramatically at the ceiling, a small piece of which falls to land right next to him.

Someone coughs in the silence.

“Right then, role call! When I call your name, I would like you to reply with your preferred name if you have one and most recent height measurement. Romelle Avera.”

“Just Romelle is good and I’m 5’6”.” The petite blonde girl Matt noticed earlier says.

“Hawea Garrett.”

“I go by Hunk sir, and I’m 6’1”.” Matt would bet that he’s Romelle’s partner.

“That nickname is spot on.” Lance whispers to no one in particular.

“Matthew Holt.”

“Matt’s fine, I’m also 6’1”, currently.” Coran nods up at the tawny haired boy.

“Oh ho, I never thought I’d get one,” Coran muses not quietly enough, “Lysander McClain?”

Lance flinches a bit, his last name is pretty infamous. “I prefer Lance professor. I’m 5 feet 10 inches.”

The class starts whispering as Coran makes a note of the nickname and height. Some of the voices filtering up to Lance, Matt, and Ryan in the middle of the room.

“McClain?”

“As in Adam and Veronica McClain?”

“Is he going solo too?”

“I never thought I’d be in a class with a McClain.”

Matt tightens his grip on Lance’s right hand as Lance sinks a little lower in his seat. Coran continues role call.

“Ryan Kinkade.”

“Ryan is my preferred name and I’m 6’ even.”

Lance tunes out after Ryan in an attempt to not let the looks of his new classmates get to him. Matt watches the class, passive soul perception giving him a base read on all his new classmates. Lance takes comfort in his partners buzzing wavelength and the calm presence of Ryan next to him.

Homeroom goes by in a blur, the bell rings for a ten-minute break before their next class is set to begin. Most of the class clears out to find friends and chat before Soul Studies begins. Matt and Lance remain in the room, but Ryan goes off to find friends in another class.

“Who do you think is the best teacher to ask about the wings thing?” Matt leans toward Lance’s whisper.

“Probably the Soul Studies teacher. They’d know the most about that kind of thing. We have it next, just before lunch so we can ask after class.” Matt whispers back.

Lance nods his agreement before the two boys fall back into an easy silence. The break ends quickly, and their classmates return to their seats.

The entire class sits there in expectant silence for a moment, staring at the door of their classroom. They sit and wait for the door to open and their next teacher to walk in, but nothing comes.

“Aren’t we supposed to have a prof for this hour?” a blond boy with bells hanging from three of the many piercings in his ears.

A crash echoes from the hallway. The door to their classroom slams open and in walks a very upset Professor Naleq with a very thin and evidently flexible man curled and clinging around the man’s torso.

“Slav, I don’t give a shit about the probabilities and other universes. You have been assigned to teach this class Soul Studies by the headmaster himself and you’re going to do it.” Blaytz grunts trying to rip the smaller man off of his back.

“There is a very small probability that this class contains the pair that are necessary to keep this reality from imploding!” the small man with a grey mustache cries as he somehow scuttles across Professor Naleq’s back and over his right shoulder.

“Slav! Enough of the alternate realities. Shut up and teach god dammit!” Blaytz growls as he finally manages to detach Slav from his body.

“There is a one in five hundred and eighty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-nine chance that the pair will be in my class, and, wearing the correct colour of socks to prevent the total collapse of the entire reality. That’s not even taking into account whether or not the wings have presented themselves! I refuse to jeopardise the timeline like this! The safest option is if I stay in the north broom closet on the fourth floor of the east wing, jumping on my left foot every thirty-five seconds while rotating forty-five degrees every second hop!” the thin man screams, trying his damnedest to either get out of the room or once more lock himself bodily onto Blaytz.

At the mention of wings, both Matt and Lance turn and meet each other’s eyes before turning back to the scuffle still unfolding at the front of the lecture theatre. The screaming continues from both parties involved until Professor Naleq gets Slav to the chair behind the desk and makes him sit down. As soon as the man has his butt on the chair he inexplicably calms down.

Turning to look out at the room, Professor Naleq addresses the class, “Alright students, sorry for the delay. This is your Soul Studies teacher, Professor Theba. He is an expert in the workings of the soul and the many types of souls there are. His Soul Perception abilities are unrivalled, and his research is ground-breaking. Now, I will be seeing you later today for Battle Arts, but in the meantime…” he makes his way quickly out of the room.

Professor Theba sits quietly in the chair for a moment, staring at the instructor’s desk. He suddenly shoots up from the chair and points silently in the general direction of Matt, Lance, and Ryan.

“Is there a Halberd in this class?” the teacher shouts manically.

The entire class looks around at each other in confusion. Matt and Ryan look at Lance.

“Uh…I’m a halberd?” Is Lance’s unsure response.

“What colour socks are you currently wearing McClain?” Lance stares at their teacher in shock at the use of his last name before checking his ankles.

“They’re green with sharks on them sir. But I don’t see why this is important—”

“Are they hammerhead sharks?!”

“…Yes.” Lance really doesn’t need the entire school knowing his sock preferences, but this is his favourite pair. Hence why he decided to wear them on the first day. For comfort.

“Who is McClain’s partner?” the teacher shouts again.

“I am sir, Matt Holt.”

“You’re a rifle correct?”

“Yes sir.” The bulging eyes of their teacher are getting really unnerving, but Matt answers promptly and clearly.

“You have Soul Perception as an ability. Tell me, have you noticed anything about your partner’s soul in particular?” Matt looks at the teacher confused. This guy is supposedly known for his Soul Perception, can’t he answer that himself?

He looks at Lance for permission, the halberd reluctantly nods.

“It has little wings sir. They’re small but clearly distinguishable as wings.” Matt says confidently.

Slav springs out if his chair and starts cheering loudly. The entire class is very confused.

Professor Theba doesn’t stop cheering for a solid five minutes. No one bothers to try and stop him, too afraid of the maniac laughter the teacher has devolved into.

He suddenly stops cheering and laughing and moves calmly over to the teacher’s desk. He picks up a small pile of papers and a piece of chalk and moves to the unused blackboard behind the desk.

“Can anyone tell me how many different types of uniquely abled soul wavelengths there are?” he says, suddenly in lecture mode.

The big guy, Hunk, answers after a pause, “There isn’t a registered number but there are six proposed wavelengths that have inherent abilities unique from other souls.”

“Correct! Can anyone name these six wavelengths?”

A small redhead on the other side of the room from Hunk and his partner pipes up.

“The Madness wavelength, the anti-demon wavelength, the healing wavelength, Death’s wavelength, the Black needle, and the murderous wavelength.”

“Excellent. Now Death’s wavelength is mostly just a distinct wavelength whose signature is very unique. It does not pertain to any true skill as it is a Shinigami specific power, though it is massively destructive. Madness, Black Needle, the murderous, the healing and the anti-demon wavelength on the other hand have specific inherent abilities.” Professor Theba clears his throat and begins to write the names of the four wavelengths on the blackboard.

“Madness is a concept we are all familiar with, it has the ability to corrupt the minds of anyone who comes in contact with it. Those with stronger Sanity can withstand more exposure and take longer to corrupt. The healing wavelength is just as it sounds, it works well against Madness but only to help heal the damage caused to a soul and mind. Tests have been run on people who have this wavelength, and nothing has been conclusive on whether it has any effect on physical injuries.

“The Black needle is a specific technique of resonance manipulation, the only known user was Death the Kid, our Shinigami and previous headmaster of the academy. No one has been found to have this wavelength since his last use during a battle with the infamous Mosquito.

“The murderous wavelength is just as much a danger to the opponent of the carrier as it is to the carrier. This wavelength feeds off the anger in a person’s soul to provide them with essentially a powerup. Too much uncontrolled anger however will cause the carrier’s soul to burst and kill them instantly.

“The last wavelength we need to discuss is one of the most important and rare wavelengths you will encounter. The anti-demon wavelength is an immediate and, depending on the strength of the user’s will, incredibly effective defense against Madness. This wavelength can only be used by very specific types of souls, one kind of soul to be exact. We will be covering more on this specific soul later in the term. The other wavelengths aside from Death’s, do not have specific souls that can wield them, the anti-demon wavelength is very special in this way.” Professor Theba finishes writing bullet points about each soul on the board and turns back around to face the class.

“We will be covering these wavelengths more in depth in the coming weeks, for now, your homework is to read the first two chapters of the required reading for Thursday. We have a few moments left so I shall begin with the basics.” He looks expectantly around the room.

“The most basic principle of Soul Studies is the much-quoted statement—” he raises his chalk once more to the board.

“A sound soul, dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body.” He turns to address the class again, “this is the idea that the entire institution operates under, never forget it.”

The bell rings.

 


	2. He's Got a Firm Grip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our first day continues. We get a look at just how in tune Lance and Matt are, Kolivan shows up and shows off and Keith is a protective bean. Food saves Keith's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Canada Day my fellow Canadians! 
> 
> I am back with more FIYA!!! God I love this story, so much world building went into the Soul Eater universe and I'm playing with ALL of it. A note about this chapter, the first half was my favourite to write, one word I avoided using at all costs, Shaft. This isn't turning into smut any time soon (if at all, cause I can't write that shit), so don't worry. Just keep in mind Lance is a Polearm. Also I found the interrobang and life is good again.
> 
> Do I have any specific songs for this chapter?? I don't know. I'll make some recs anyway!  
> Blown Away - Carrie Underwood  
> On My Way - Sheppard
> 
> and that's about all I got for right now. Onto the story!!!!!

Matt is concerned about Lance. His partner is twitchy after the Soul Studies lecture. Understandably after their introduction to their professor. Matt himself was thrown for a loop after professor Theba’s reaction to their responses to his questions.

Lance’s knee is bouncing and he’s nibbling on the nails of his left hand, Matt decides a distraction is in order.

“Are you righthanded or lefthanded?” he asks suddenly.

Lance freezes and looks at him with wide eyes before he processes what Matt just said.

“Uh… I’m lefthanded. Ho—” he swallows quickly, “how about you?”

“Righthanded. We really are the perfect duo. We can maintain contact without messing with our ability to take notes in class.” Matt teases. Ryan flinches on Lance’s other side but Matt pretends he doesn’t see it.

The small smile that Lance gives him is a relief.

“You know, I’ve heard from friends in the other EAT classes that Theba is pretty insane, so you don’t have to think so hard about what he was saying outside the wavelengths, those we actually do need to know.” Lance nods absentmindedly.

“Lance? are you okay?” he squeezes Lance’s hand to get his attention.

“Yeah, it’s just something he said about those wavelengths. I don’t know why but I feel like I’ve heard that stuff before. Which is stupid cause I never learned about souls before coming here.” Lance squeezes back.

“That’s weird. How about we put a pin in it, and we can try and figure it all out at home later? I think we have Battle Arts next, or one of the role-specific training classes so we need to be totally focused or we might be in trouble.” Matt rubs his thumb over Lance’s knuckles.

“Yeah, you’re right. We can figure it out together later.” He smiles warmly up at Matt, “I hope it’s weapon training, I like professor Smythe, he’s cool.”

Matt nods in agreement as the door of the lecture hall opens up again and two people enter. Professor Smythe walks into the room grinning at his companion.

Professor Moraic is smiling back but it’s almost too subtle to see. If Matt didn’t have such good eyes, he’d probably have missed it.

The two men come up to stand in front of the desk on the dais. Professor Moraic at ease with his arms crossed over his chest, professor Smythe with his hands neatly behind his back.

“For those who do not know me I am professor Moraic and I will be the instructor for the meisters. Professor Smythe is my weapon partner and as you know, will be the instructor for the weapon class.

“Since today is the first day of classes and no one has had a chance to really get to know their partners yet, it would be pointless to split you all off into the meister and weapon specific sections. As such, we have decided to take this and the next hour, what would normally be your lunch period, to allow you to get to know your partners. We will be providing a space for you and your partner to get a feel for each other. Meisters, that means you will be getting a feel for their weapon form.” Kolivan explains.

“We have reserved the use of the practice field behind the school for this reason, so if you all would follow us, we can begin.” Coran adds, gesturing towards the door.

Matt and Lance are the first to stand and make their way to the door, the rest of the class staring at the instructors in confusion. The knowledge of the two being a pair doesn’t phase the weapon pair, being fairly unconventional themselves, but their classmates can’t seem to reconcile the stoic professor Moraic being professor Smythe’s meister. The two are very different.

The class eventually snaps back to reality and follows Lance and Matt out the door towards the training field.

~~~~~~~~

The training field is a large expanse located on a raised platform behind the school. There are multiple different terrains but the class heads to the grassy area closer to the school. The instructors move to the front of the group to address everyone.

“Alright, I need everyone to find their partners and move to a space where they have enough room to reach the full extension of the weapon’s reach. Physical reach, we will not be firing any weapons today.” Coran looks pointedly at a pair to his right who are smiling evilly.

Lance and Matt move away from the group a ways. Lance leads since he’s the longer weapon and Matt doesn’t know how much space they’ll need for him to be comfortable.

“Try and get to know your partner a bit before attempting to add weapon forms into the equation.” Professor Moraic.

Matt squeezes Lance’s hand again, “So, you’re a halberd, right? A pretty versatile polearm.” He says a little awkwardly. The two haven’t taken the time between moving in and getting to know each other to actually talk about weapon forms. To be honest it’s a little daunting for them.

“Yeah, not as cool as my siblings but I like it.” Lance shrugs. “Professor Theba said you were a rifle, right?” Matt nods, “particular kind?”

“Sniper.” Matt replies.

“Cool, who should go first?” Lance can feel a little nervousness rising in his chest. He really wants Matt to think he’s cool.

“I can if you’d like?” he nods at Matt’s offer.

Matt takes a step back from Lance, still holding the younger boy’s hand. He closes his eyes and in a burst of orange light, a weight lands softly in Lance’s hands.

Lance gazes at the sleek design of Matt’s weapon form. The body of the gun in his hands is solid, matte and a soft grey. The barrel is long and slim but still sturdy. Lance turns so he’s facing away from anyone else and raises Matt up to his right shoulder. The recoil pad is snug against his shoulder and the gun feels like it was made to fit in his arms. Their resting resonance rate is sure and strong, it feels closer to the surface with Matt like this.

“Wow Matt. You’re so awesome. We have to hit the shooting range to see how good of a shot I am.” Lance laughs, giddy at how beautiful his partner’s weapon form is.

Matt laughs too from his place in the weapon space.

“Glad you’re excited! We should definitely hit the range soon, but first I want to show you something cool.” Lance raises and eyebrow at the statement. “Look through my scope dude.” Lance does.

The view through the scope is crisp and clear, sights where they should be. Lance is just about to ask what the cool thing is when the image through the scope suddenly zooms in and focuses on a squirrel in a tree on the other side of the grassy field.

“Whoa, you can zoom in? That is so cool!” Lance exclaims, looking at the details he can see of the tree the squirrel is in.

“Pretty cool right? I’ve got something better though, keep looking.”

It’s like a filter is put in front of the scope. Suddenly he can see a small green bubble-like thing floating in the squirrel’s torso. It bobs up and down minutely, but it follows where the squirrel goes.

It suddenly dawns on him. That’s the squirrel’s soul.

“Oh my god Matt, you can share your soul perception like this?” he whispers in disbelief.

Lance has always wondered what souls looked like in real life; this is incredible.

“Yup! My scope allows me to share with you what I see. It gives me a bit of a boost too; I can see souls through walls and stuff like this. Take a look at the school building.” He instructs.

Lance turns, finger on the trigger guard and not the actual trigger so that he doesn’t accidentally let off a shot into someone else.

The school building is full of souls of different colours, sizes, and shapes. The most common being the blue shape of most young meisters.

“Holy shit Matt, this is incredible. You’re amazing.” Matt’s face heats up at the praise and he rubs the back of his neck in the weapon space.

“Thanks, it’s been interesting to figure all this stuff out alone. I’m excited to see what we can do as a team.” Matt grins, “I think it’s your turn now Lance, I want to see what you look like too.”

Lance feels his stomach drop. He really hopes he can meet Matt’s expectations.

“I’m not really anything special, but okay.” He says quietly, dejected.

Orange light engulfs Matt once more and suddenly there’s a hand in Lance’s again. His partner gives a light squeeze of reassurance before Lance takes a deep breath and lets the bladed edge in the back of his mind off it’s leash.

Blue light engulfs the boy and he feels his body shift as easily as breathing. He feels himself fall into the familiar weapon space as the body of his weapon form is revealed by the retreating light.

He feels his weapon body like he would his normal flesh. Matt’s hands are gentle around his handle, getting a feel for the shape and weight of him. No one has ever really held him in his weapon form before and the feeling if someone else’s hands in control is going to take some getting used too.

Being trapped in his own thoughts, Lance misses the awe filled gasp that comes from Matt when the blue light clears.

Lance is a basic halberd. He’s got an axe head with a curved spike on the back and a thin double-sided blade at the tip. He has little embellishment outside of the dark blue wrap that covers about a foot or so down his shaft from directly under the blade. The shaft of this form is a soft steel instead of the wood found most commonly on the non-demon version.

He knows he’s not exactly exciting to look at, but he’s pretty proud of how sleek and sharp he looks. And like his personality, he’s a very versatile weapon.

“Wow.” He hears Matt whisper.

“Like what you see partner? Finest halberd specimen you could ever find, right here!” he boasts, trying to pull himself out of the low of his earlier thoughts. Matt wouldn’t have reacted like that if he wasn’t impressed…or at least not disappointed.

“Holy shit Lance, you’re gorgeous! And wow! Your blade is elegant but clearly incredibly deadly.” Matt stares at Lance’s weapon form with wide eyes filled with awe. Lance hopes that he looked like that when Matt transformed.

He’s really glad the weapon space isn’t visible to outsiders because he’s blushing all the way to his toes and the fact, he can feel it is enough of an embarrassment already.

“D-do you mind if I swing you around a little bit? It’s not really fair because you couldn’t pull my trigger here, but I really want to give it a try.” And Lance can feel the blush burn brighter at Matt’s words.

“Of course!” he squeaks.

Matt sets his grip wider, right hand closest to the bladed end, cradling the pole. His left-hand rests atop the pole, grip loose but stable. He takes a moment to get a feel for the weight and balance of his partner.

Just like when Lance was holding Matt, their resting resonance is solid but feels closer to the surface. He feels as if he could reach out his hand and grab hold of it. It feels like it would be easy to pull and amplify.

Lance is broken out of his thoughts by Matt, pushing down with his left hand, pushing up with his right and allowing the weight of Lance’s blade to carry it around in a graceful spin. Matt pushes the shaft again at just the right moment for Lance to pick up more speed and continue rotating.

He can feel Matt’s focus, completely absorbed in keeping Lance balanced and moving. Lance puts his own concentration into helping himself rotate and stay balanced. They lose themselves in the motions and the feeling of being in tune with one another.

The rest of the class starts to notice the display the two boys are unknowingly putting on. The other pairs slowly look over and stop what they’re doing to move closer to the weapon pair. A circle slowly forms around the pair still lost in the act of acting as one. Their classmates whisper in awe at the display of trust and skill.

Professors Moraic and Smythe notice the lack of pairs practicing. They look across the field at the clustered students in curiosity.

“Shall we go take a look at the commotion?” Coran asks, a twinkle in his eye.

Kolivan nods and the two men make their way over to cluster that is their class. The sight that greats them is they’re two problem students, so dubbed because they are a scheduling nightmare, in the middle of the circle of students. The pair are completely in sync, their movements the kind of fluid only seen in pairs years ahead of them. The movements are something that both men know neither boy has learned which means the two are acting exclusively on instinct and trust in each other.

At one point, their motions become more like a dance and Lance knows how to dance. He shifts the focus of their movements from the basic spin to something more fluid. Matt follows his line of thinking and a huge grin breaks across his face. Lance laughs out loud and the two start adding in a little flair. They move from the rotation strictly in front of Matt and move together to shift it so that Lance is rotating around Matt’s body, at his side, over his head and on his other side. Lance can feel Matt’s grin and he’s sure Matt can feel his own. The feeling of elation bounces between the two of them, feeding off each other.

Coran recognizes the feeling of Soul Resonance before his fellow teacher sees it. It comes as a prickle raising the hair on the back of his neck as the meister in the middle of the circle’s grin widens. A faint orange glow takes over the blade of the halberd’s axe head.

Kolivan moves closer to the pair, Coran on his heels, in case they need to step in.

Lance feels the shift immediately. He grins at the power he can feel flowing between them and he feels Matt do the same. But something in the back of his mind is telling him this isn’t the time or the place to push. He gently feeds that thought to Matt, who agrees readily, and they slowly begin to decrease the rate at which they’re feeding the other their wavelength. The glow they haven’t noticed, disappears and they slow the rate of their rotations, returning to the simple one in front of Matt’s body before stopping completely.

Matt looks over at Lance’s axe head and gives the shaft a light squeeze. A blue light engulfs the halberd and a giggle floats through the air. Moments later Lance is standing there, human, with his fingers tangled together with Matt’s. They don’t notice their class gathered around them until the cheering starts.

They both startle at the sound and look around wildly at the gathering of their entire class. Their teachers are right at the front with Ryan next them. They look almost impressed. Lance isn’t sure what the look they both wear is, but he knows the sour expression on Ryan’s face is jealous awe.

“Uh…” Matt leans over and whispers in Lance’s ear. “Did we do something?”

The class slowly stops cheering and begins to make their way back to what they were doing. Professors Moraic and Smythe make their way over to the pair.

“Fabulous display boys! Quite impressive for your first time working with the weapon form.” Coran calls from too close.

“It was a show of excellent skill and control. Not to mention the trust you two obviously have in each other.” Kolivan adds.

“Oh, well thank you professors.” Matt replies.

“Were you aware of just how close you two were to a full resonance?” Kolivan asks stiffly.

“Was that what that was? I thought there had to be intent to resonate with someone else, not just be in tune with each other.” Lance wonders aloud.

“The basis of resonance is essentially being on the same page. The fact that you two were so close to resonating at such a high level means your bond is very strong.” Coran explains, pointing a finger rather dramatically upwards before bringing it down to point at both boys. “That being said, we must ask that you two limit the practice with your weapon forms to times when you can be supervised so that we can help mitigate any risks such a strong resonance can have with two relatively untrained students. With supervision though, feel free to push your limits boys.”

“You two evidently have a lot of power together which can be dangerous if left unrefined. Please do not hesitate to ask either myself or professor Smythe to supervise if you would like to practice outside of school hours.” Kolivan adds.

The boys nod yes.

“Wonderful!” Coran claps his hands together, “Class is almost over so feel free to spend the last few minutes talking about what just happened.” He singsongs as he and Kolivan walk back to the other students to check on their progress.

The two boys stand together, hand in hand still as they watch their teachers walk away. The silence that reigns is comfortable.

“Almost a full resonance. We pulled off an almost complete resonance without even trying. Holy shit Lance! Do you know what that means?” Matt turns excitedly to his partner, practically bouncing.

“That we’ve got a really good bond and we’re pretty powerful?” Lance asks.

“Yes! Exactly that! But also! If we can refine it enough for both of us being in weapon form, then we can have a chance to enter into the Death Festival tournament!” Matt explains, giddy at the prospect.

“I thought first years couldn’t enter the tournament.” Lance says, eyebrow raised, and head tilted to the left in confusion.

“It’s not that they can’t and more so, they get absolutely wrecked by the students in the higher classes. The first years are so new to all of this most of the time that they aren’t familiar enough to fight anyone of the higher years.” Matt pulls Lance to follow as he sits down in the grass of the field.

“Even though the tournament is open to all EAT class students, only a few actually participate. Most of the lower classes refrain and let the more experienced students duke it out, but, if we can actually get some training in, I think we could make a good run for the title this year. If you want to of course! I think it would be cool but I’m only one half of this partnership, and it’s only an idea.” Matt hurries to assure Lance.

Lance sits there, amused for a moment before giving the idea some thought. He ponders out loud.

“I mean, it would be pretty cool. We’ve got extra lessons we have to do so I don’t know when we’d fit in the extra training time, but it wouldn’t hurt to try right?” he smiles at the grin that spreads across Matt’s face.

“Let’s get through our classes for the day first and then we’ll talk to the teachers about some extra training. Sound good?” Matt suggests, calming down a bit from his initial excitement.

“Okay.” Lance agrees.

They sit and chat for a few more minutes before the professors call an end to the period and a start to the lunch break. The pair making their way back into the school building, unaware of the eyes that watch them.

The two professors watch their newly dubbed ‘problem children’ walk back into the building. The boys are still hand in hand, something the teachers don’t think they’re aware of anymore, and oblivious to the many eyes of their classmates watching them leave. Some in jealousy, others in awe and even some assessing, calculating even, the potential or threat the pair pose.

Coran and Kolivan share a look. Those boys are in for a very eventful school career.

~~~~~~~~

Lance and Matt make their way to the communal lunch area of the school. The DWMA’s cafeteria, like most of the school, is grand and spacious, the skull motif of its founder ever prevalent. There are tables large enough to seat up to eight people in organised rows all throughout the room with students scattered throughout.

Lance used to eat mostly alone when he was in the NOT program, only sometimes being able to eat with either of his siblings. Having a regular lunch buddy will be nice.

“Matt!” he hears a voice call from somewhere to the pair’s right. He turns to see Matt wave and begin moving in that direction before stopping suddenly and turning to Lance.

“My sister and her friends are over this way; we can eat with them if that’s alright with you?” Lance nods mutely and follows behind his partner, gripping the older boy’s hand tight.

They walk quickly up to a table with six other people at it and two empty chairs.

“Hey guys! Got enough room for two more?” he asks with a grin. The people around the table all smile and laugh letting the pair know that they’re more than welcome.

Lance looks at the faces at the table, four of them are familiar. Hunk and Romelle from their own class sit next to a small girl with short hair and big round glasses. On the girls left is a quiet kid with dark hair and silver highlights. Lance can’t quite see the kid’s eyes, but he thinks for sure that they’re a weird shade of electric green. Or at least the one not covered by a bandana is.

On the other side of the table sit Takashi Shirogane and his meister and younger brother, Keith Kogane. The pair is on a couple of the recruiting posters with Veronica, Nadya and Adam. Besides being poster boys for the school and the top of their class, Shirogane is also a big part of Adam’s history at the school and as cool as he is, doesn’t have a very favourable standing with the weapons of the McClain family.

Even so, these are Matt’s friends and he’s willing to try and get along. If nothing else, it’s a big group and Lance can try not to interact too much.

“Of course, Matt! Always room for you and your…partner?” Shirogane trails off.

“Right! I almost forgot! Everyone, this is my partner Lance.” Matt gestures at him. He turns to Lance, “Lance, these are my friends. The gremlin in glasses is my sister Katie but she prefers Pidge, her partner Rover who goes by they/them. Hunk is in our class but a good friend of Pidge’s and his partner Romelle who’s also new to the squad. Across the table—" he sweeps his arms dramatically “—we have Keith, resident knife enthusiast and all around Edgelord and his partner Takashi Shirogane, but he usually prefers Shiro.” Everyone nods as they’re introduced, Keith shouting an indignant ‘hey!’ at the Edgelord comment.

Lance can’t help the cold stare he levels in Shiro’s direction, even though he’s trying his hardest not to.

Unfortunately for Lance, Keith sees the stare.

“Have you got a problem dude?” He snaps at Lance.

Matt turns sharply to look at his partner, seeing the defensive fire rise.

“No. Do you?” Lance says, deceptively calm.

“I have an issue with how you’re glaring at my brother so yeah.” Lance quirks an eyebrow.

“As far as I’m concerned, he kind of deserves it.”

“What do you mean?” Keith demands slamming his hands on the table and getting quickly to his feet, “we don’t even know you! How can you just hate someone on sight?”

“I don’t hate him! I admire him as a weapon and a warrior, but he did something terrible too!” Lance yells right back.

The table is staring at the pair, Matt in shock and Shiro in confusion, specifically.

“Shiro is a damn marshmallow! He wouldn’t hurt a fly unless a Kishin was involved!”

“Tell that to my brother!” Lance cries, hands balled into fists at his side. The other boy falls silent.

“What do you mean, your brother?” Shiro asks quietly, scrutinising the boy still kind of glaring at him, “What’s your name?”

“Lance McClain.” Shiro’s eyes widen at the quiet answer and Keith goes suddenly rigid.

The other people at the table sit in stunned silence, eyes moving between Lance and Shiro and Keith.

 “Lance? Whats going on?” Matt asks, tugging on their still joined hands. Lance doesn’t take his eyes off Shiro.

“…You’re Adam’s brother. I can understand the glare then.” Shiro smiles ruefully. He looks down at his hands laced together on the table. Keith glares daggers at Lance.

“Well this got super awkward.” Hunk says breaking the silence that had engulfed the table.

Lance sighs loudly, “I’m sorry. I don’t know you; I only know what Adam told me about how things went down. Him and Veronica are the only people I have out here and we’re all really protective of each other, but I’m not here to pick fights or make you feel bad. Matt wants to eat with his friends, and I have no issue eating somewhere else if me being here makes you uncomfortable Shiro.” Lance looks over at Shiro, not quite smiling but not glaring anymore either.

“Good, go find somewhere else to sit then.” Keith growls.

“Hold on a minute Keith! Lance apologized, there’s no reason to be a dick about it.” Matt snaps at his friend.

“Matt’s right Keith.” Shiro sighs and turns to Lance, “It’s alright Lance. What happened is between me and your brother and it isn’t fair to drag you into it, especially when you’re my best friend’s partner. I’m more than fine with you joining our little group, as long as we can both agree to leave what happened between Adam and I and you and I can start fresh. Deal?” he holds his hand out for Lance to shake.

Lance moves to shake Shiro’s hand but pauses when he realizes Matt is still firmly holding his hand. He squeezes Matt’s hand and then releases, a blush high on his cheeks. He shakes Shiro’s hand in agreement before quickly returning his hand back to the safety of Matt’s touch and the table looks at them oddly.

“When you said he was your partner, I didn’t think you meant in the romantic sense Matt.” Pidge deadpans, eyes on the pair’s interwoven fingers.

“That’s not it and you know it Pidge. Our resting resonance rate is so high that being apart makes us both physically uncomfortable. It’s easier on us both to be constantly touching and this works out well for us.” Matt explains, giving a warning look to his snarky mad scientist of a sister.

“…Your resting resonance rate is so high that you have to be physically touching to mitigate the physical effects?” Pidge squints suspiciously at her brother over the top of her very round glasses.

“Yes.” Matt says simply.

“I believe it Pidge, when we were in the training field earlier, they were so in sync, they were pulling off some crazy moves. I heard Professor Moraic say something about them almost hitting a full resonance.” Hunk interjects.

“On the first day‽” Pidge shrieks standing up from her seat quickly and rushing to Matt’s side.

Keith looks at Lance curiously, Lance stares at the tiny human that looks like a mini Matt coming flying at them.

“I’ve never heard of a meister/weapon pair that’s been able to accomplish something like that on the first day.” Keith says offhandedly, looking up at Lance when he feels the boy’s eyes snap to him.

“The only people who have ever gotten remotely close to those kinds of levels so quickly, were Soul and Maka Evans over a hundred years ago and they had at least two years together before they reached that level.” Rover adds.

“Well that’s a pretty amazing fact there guys, but it doesn’t apply to us.” Lance replies smoothly.

“What do you mean it doesn’t apply to you‽” Keith snaps.

“Keith, think about it for a minute. What’s Matt?” Pidge says, leading Keith.

“Matt’s a weapon so Lance is his meister, that’s how this whole thing works.” Keith says frustrated, like it should be obvious.

“I mean, you’re not wrong. Lance is my meister, but we’re not a traditional pair Keith.” Matt relents.

“Think about it this way, Lance is a McClain, right?” Keith nods, “And what are Veronica and Adam?” Pidge asks.

“Weapons. Lance must be the black sheep or something, a family can have meisters and weapons Pidge, you’re a prime example.” Keith retorts, sounding more and more confused.

“Yeah, but my weapon gene is inactive just like my mother’s. Lance’s family’s weapon genes surfaced only recently. There are only three weapons in the history of the McClain family.” Pidge says, trying really hard not to spell it out for Keith.

Keith looks at Pidge with his eyebrow cocked in confusion and his head tilted like a kitten. ‘What are you getting at?’ the looks says.

“Keith, Lance is a weapon too.” Shiro says, taking pity on his brother. Keith isn’t usually this dense unless he sees a challenge or a cute boy. Which thinking about it, it could be both.

Realization dawns on the meister’s face, his eyes wide and his cheeks burning.

“Oh. Right.” He says, stunted.

“Which honestly makes this even more impressive. There’s been less than ten recorded weapon/weapon pairs in the history of the school let alone pairs that could reach the resonance levels you two are. You’re a statistical anomaly.” Pidge says, adjusting her glasses.

“Hey guys? As cool as it is to share a table with a statistical anomaly, it’s been twenty minutes since lunch break started and I’m starving, can we let Hunk get to the food now please?” Romelle interrupts before anyone else can say anything.

The group pauses before turning to look at Hunk who looks around confused before remembering the containers of food he brought for the group.

Matt leans in closer to Lance and whispers, “The reason I didn’t want to pack lunch this morning is that Hunk loves to cook, he always brings enough food for all of us and any extra guests we may bring along. Half the reason we all hang around each other is because of his cooking, it’s to die for and believe me that isn’t an exaggeration.”

“I can’t wait to try it.” He whispers back.

“You’ll love it, I promise.” Matt grins at his partner. Lance stares at him for a moment, caught off guard for some reason he can’t explain.

He bites his lip and looks down at the floor, “Hey Matt?” his partner looks at him, “I’m sorry about that whole thing with Keith and Shiro, I didn’t want to start anything, but I guess I couldn’t hide it as well as I thought.”

Matt gives his hand a reassuring squeeze, “It’s okay. You don’t know Shiro’s side of things and Adam’s your big brother, you want to support and protect your family, I get it and so does Shiro. The big thing is that you apologized and Shiro’s okay with things as long as you leave what happened, between them. Everything’s fine Lance, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Lance gives Matt a soft smile in thanks. How he managed to snag such a great partner, he’ll never know but he thanks the universe that he did.

“Are you guys going to sit down or what?” Pidge asks around her fork full of food.

Matt looks up and realizes that no, they aren’t in fact sitting at the table, before he drags Lance to the empty chairs on the other side of Keith. He figures putting Lance and Keith next to each other is a recipe for disaster, but that puts Lance on his right side which means they have to drop the other’s hand.

Lance sense his partner’s hesitation. He’s grateful for Matt’s consideration but at the same time it comes down to which comfort he wants more. Sitting next to Keith would be uncomfortable but not being close to Matt makes his skin itch. He can always just not talk to Keith. He plops himself down into the seat next to Keith with a smile.

Matt looks confused for a split second before he shrugs, decision made. He tucks himself into the remaining chair to tuck into the food Hunk has placed in front of them.

Neither boy notices the looks the rest of the table is giving them. Pidge shares a meaningful look with Hunk and Rover before she returns to her food.

Interesting.

~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to Battle arts. As I said earlier today, I’m Professor Naleq and I’ll be teaching you the finer points of combat and strategy.” Blaytz announces from the front of the lecture hall of Class Crescent Moon.

“Normally this class is taught in the school’s athletic centre, specifically the dojo area, but I thought we’d shake it up a bit for the first day. The first thing I want to know if anyone here has had any experience in a fight, including schoolyard brawls and scraps like that.”

Lance and ten others raise their hands. Matt and Ryan look at Lance in shock, Lance just shrugs.

“That’s a few more than I was expecting to be honest.” Blaytz considers the students with their hands up, hand on his chin in thought. “Those who have their hands up, have any of been in fights involving weapon forms? Yours or someone else’s.”

All but two hands go down. Lance’s hand still held aloft.

“Well then, we’ve got some experience in this class. This is going to be fun for the three of us then.” Professor Naleq grins widely from the front of the room.

Matt stares at his partner. When did Lance get into a fight? With weapon forms involved no less. That’s something they’ll definitely need to chat about when they get home later.

“With that out of the way, we’re going to make our way out to the training field. We’re going to play a game.” Professor Naleq strolls out of the class, the students rushing to follow.

~~~~~~~~

Matt wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when Professor Naleq said they were playing a game but capture the flag had definitely been on that list.

Just not this capture the flag.

The class had been split up into four teams, even though there are only two flags. Each team had been tasked with finding and holding onto one of the flags, defending it as best they can until the timer runs out. All the pairs had been split so Lance and Matt are on different teams. This is currently not boding well for the other three teams.

Lance’s team is currently in the lead. They’ve had their flag for most of the hour, having acquired it roughly five minutes in. The worst part is no one can fucking find them! It’s like the whole team vanished! How twenty-six people somehow collectively lost the other nine is incredibly vexing.

Blaytz told them they could use whatever skills they wanted as long as none of the weapons transformed in any way and no one used their soul wavelengths as an offensive attack. Matt’s team took advantage of his soul perception and managed to grab their flag, but they had also lost said flag about two minutes ago and were now in the process of retrieving it.

They’d passed by Ryan’s very confused team a few minutes ago, looking for Lance’s team. Matt decided he’d take a look around and see if he could spot Lance, which is how the vexation came to be.

He can’t find Lance’s soul or anyone else on his team. They’re just gone from the field. No one else he’s asked can see them either and that just makes things even more confusing.

Where the hell is his partner?

“You have two more minutes to either defend or reclaim your flag!” Professor Naleq announces from the observation platform above the area.

“Shit! Where the hell are they‽” One of Ryan’s teammates shouts angrily. Yeah, Matt wants to know that too.

One of his own teammates cheers suddenly. Matt looks over and grins at the sight of their flag within the ranks of his own team.

“Now we gotta keep it! Merla! Take the flag and head that way!” One of the other meisters in his class yells at the short girl who grabs the flag and scurries off towards the edge of their area of the training field.

The DWMA has an extensive training field. The area closest to the school is a regular field, a little hilly on the edges but overall pretty flat. The area to the left of the field is an obstacle course that the staff changes every couple weeks. Blaytz, Coran and Kolivan set challenges within the course for people to try if they feel like it before the course changes. Above the field and next to the obstacle course is a forest. An actual dense forest. Pidge says there’s a clearing in the middle somewhere but otherwise it’s thickly packed trees. To the right of the forest is where their class is currently.

They’re in a multipurpose space that changes depending on what the teachers want to work on with the class. Right now, it’s an urban-like area with large concrete almost building and blind alleys and dead ends. The buildings aren’t open in anyway, no doors or windows, so there’s no way to get inside any of the giant blocks, which limits places the teams can hide or ambush from.

So where in the actual hell is Lance‽

“Thirty seconds!” Blaytz calls again. Matt hears a collections of frustrated yelling from somewhere else in the multi-purpose space. Probably a combination of Ryan and Hunk’s teams.

“Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Time is up! Please return to the starting point!” The team finds Merla and another that went to guard her and make their way over to the tower that holds the viewing platform.

They’re not the last team to arrive but they’re not the first either. Hunk’s team is off to Matt’s left, a little bummed at their loss but pleased with the fight they put up. Lance’s team stands at the bottom of the tower, their flag hanging from his belt and the entire team looking pleased with their victory. Lance catches Matt’s eye and winks before grinning brightly.

Matt raises his eyebrow in question and Lance mouths ‘later’ in response.

Ryan’s team is the last to arrive. All of them grumbling from their definitive loss. Ryan catches sight of Lance.

“Where in the hell did you guys even go? We searched the whole arena and there was no sign of you!” Ryan says, loud in his frustration but not yelling.

“Hey Romelle, what were the rules Professor Naleq gave us at the beginning of the game?” Lance says to the blonde girl smiling next to him.

“There are three rules: one, you have one hour to capture and keep the flag you have been assigned. Two, you may not leave the designated playing area. Three, the starting point is under the observation tower. His instructions were that we were going to be playing on the training field.” Romelle states.

“Thank you Romelle.” Lance looks at Ryan smugly.

Blaytz joins them before Ryan can retort.

“Excellent work everyone. I saw the whole match and I must say we had some clever use of the space from everyone and some clever use of the rules by one group in particular. Team Pumpkin, who was your team captain?” He turns to Lance’s team.

“Luka was our captain sir.” A girl with brown hair replies, gesturing to the thin girl in the group of nine.

“Luka, did you come up with the strategy your team used?”

“No sir, Lance and Romelle came up with the plan. They brought it forward and we all agreed it would be the best approach.”

“Mr. McClain, Miss Avera, excellent work.” Lance and Romelle grin at the praise, Matt watching on in confusion and pride that his partner did so well.

“Alright! As you all know, Team Pumpkin won their match up against Team Scythe. Team Wolf also won their match against Team Snake, though it was much harder fought. Now, class is almost over so if you would please make your way back to the classroom, we’ll be discussing the results of the game tomorrow.” Some of their classmates groan at the prospect of going back to class. Matt looks at Lance, handing the flag back to their teacher.

“So how in the world did you guys manage to hide out so long? And how did you block your soul’s from my eyes? I couldn’t find you anywhere.” Matt asks, Lance coming over to him and linking their hands together before they continue walking to the classroom.

Lance giggles, “We didn’t block anything, we just weren’t where you all thought.” Matt looks at him skeptically.

“Did you guys get inside one of those fake building/block things?”

“Those are solid dude, no. We weren’t even in that area.” Lance giggles more at Matt’s confusion.

“But we weren’t allowed to leave that area, where did you go?” Matt is still super confused. Where in the hell did they go that was still in the paying area but not in the area everyone else was?

“Think about it Matt, remember the rules.” Lance prods.

It takes Matt a moment of pondering, but it finally clicks, “…The playing area was the entire training field. You guys went and hid somewhere else on the field to avoid us. I couldn’t see you because I wasn’t looking in the right place and my range isn’t as far out of weapon form. Damn Lance, that’s really clever.” Matt looks at Lance with wide eyes, pride burning in his chest. His partner, strategist extraordinaire.

“Thank you! But I can’t take all the credit, Romelle helped too.” Lance grins brightly and Matt can feel his partner’s soul buzzing with delight.

“Ryan’s team was so pissed. I guess we all need to pay more attention to our situations, things like that could come in super handy in the field.” Matt chuckles.

“They could mean life or death Mr. Holt.” A voice startles the boys. They whip around to be met with the face of Professor Moraic.

The boys don’t say anything, just stare in shock at their teacher.

“Noticing little details like that could be the difference between life and death in the field. Lance and Romelle did very well for noticing the trick of the wording. Higher level Kishin like to play games like that to take you unawares, it’s the little things that can save your life.” Kolivan finishes, turning to continue down the hall away from the pair.

“Well, that happened.” Matt mutters. Lance squeezes his hand, eyes still following their teacher’s retreating back. “We should get back to class, we’ve got one more block today and then we can head home.”

Lance lets Matt tug him back to class, still processing what Professor Moraic said.

He’s a weird man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First day of school for the boys is now over! You have no idea what went into this chapter guys, you'd think that with a fandom as big as Soul Eater, someone would have come up with the layout of the school grounds but noooooo. I spent several hours drawing up the basic layout of the school building and the training field and I will be doing some of the inside of the school as well as Lance and Matt's apartment so we will be visiting that soon too ;). Anyway, the scene is set and stuff is about to get fun, for me at least. 
> 
> I hope you're enjoying this story so far, let me know what you think! I don't bite and I love reading comments. What do you think of the chapter length so far? It takes me a while but I like the longer chapters personally. If you have any questions about the Soul Eater universe, let me know I will be happy to clarify any confusion (as long as it doesn't spoil anything XD)


	3. Waving Through A Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Souls are more complicated than you'd expect, Lance and Matt try and get a leg up in preparation for the festival, and the other McClain sibling gives us a look at what happens behind closed doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Long time no post! I had to take a bit of a surprise hiatus for a bit due to some mental health issues as well as me being just generally too busy to even attempt to focus. I'm doing better and things have calmed down for the most part, only to ramp up again in the next month and a half. I'll try and stick on top of updating this, which might mean shorter chapters like this one are going to become more frequent. I hope you're all alright with that. I have an update schedule I'm trying to start using so hopefully I can stick to it and get this updating more regularly. 
> 
> Anyway! I really love the science behind how souls work in the Soul Eater universe. Like I'm a nerd for it and since I get to write some classes and stuff, YOU GET ALL THE KNOWLEDGE! I had way too much fun with this chapter. There was legitimate cackling in glee. All of the information provided is as accurate to the anime and manga as I could get it, it's been tweaked in some places slightly to account for the time difference between the setting of the Soul Eater series and this story so there have been advances that I made some educated guesses with being a scientist myself. 
> 
> Enjoy!!!!!!!

“Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good first week because today marks the start of the real work. Now who is ready for some good old fashioned Plasmological fun?” Professor Theba announces as he marches cheerily into Class Crescent Moon.

The entire class stares at their teacher. Matt and Lance share a quick look of wariness before turning back to their teacher.

A tentative hand raises into the air, “sir? What’s Plasmology?”. The excited smile that comes over the teacher’s face has everyone shrinking back in fear of the manic lectures Slav is prone to.

“Plasmology, is the technical term for the noble study of the soul.” Slav says, pointing his finger up at the ceiling dramatically and nodding matter-of-factly. He turns from the class to face the chalkboard.

“Now, last week we covered very little actual material due to the sheer amount of paperwork that the administration had me filling out rather than passing on my great wisdom to all of you! So today we begin with the basics. Can anyone tell me what exactly we classify as the ‘soul’?” he says writing the word soul very neatly on the board.

He turns quickly back toward the class. Nothing happens for a moment before Ryan Kinkade raises his hand from Matt’s right.

“The soul is described as being the essence of a person or creature. It is the spiritual element of a being but also something that is not material.” Lance smiles with pride at his friend’s answer and Matt sees Ryan puff up a little bit at the look. Matt gives Lance’s hand a light squeeze.

“You are correct Mr. Kinkade. The soul, specifically of a humanoid being, is the spiritual essence of that person. Humanoids are not the only beings that have souls, animals do as well while things like plants do not. Animal souls are easily distinguishable from humanoid souls by just the wavelength, the souls are vastly different. Though an animal with magical power can be harder to distinguish from a witch for example.

“When it comes to humanoid souls, all of them are fundamentally similar, presumably because of the humanoid element. Witches and Sorcerers, unlike humans, have the ability to manipulate magic in it’s many forms whereas Humans do not. We will be getting more in depth about this in a few days, for today we are focusing on the human soul. Does anyone have any questions currently?” he looks expectantly at the class.

“If souls are immaterial, how can they be seen? And what causes wavelengths in the first place?” Merla, Luka’s partner asks from the front row.

“Excellent questions! Souls act very similar to our hearts in that they pulse with a rhythm, this rhythm is unique to every soul and is the basis for what we call the wavelength. The soul wavelength is very personal and certain rhythms give the impression of certain traits, often connected to the personality or traits of the person whose soul you are interacting with. What was one thing you noticed about your partner’s wavelength when you connected for the first time?”

“Oh oh!” a boy in the back row on Lance’s left shouts, jumping up from his chair and waving wildly.

“Yes Mr. Gambit?” professor Theba acknowledges the boy warily.

“Rowan’s wavelength when we first met was really tense and annoyed but also open and warm. My first impression was that he was a serious person who cares a lot.”

A harsh whisper of _‘Tobin what the hell‽’_ comes from the larger boy sitting next to Tobin.

“Yes, wavelengths give off impressions of personalities like that regardless of whether you have the Soul Perception ability or not. Now soul’s by most of our methods of analysis, are not physical things. They operate and exist on a level we usually associate with radio waves and non-visible light. With hat said, the only ways to see a soul are through an x-ray or by using Soul Perception.” Slav continued.

“We now analyze souls in a similar way to how we analyze sound and other electromagnetic waves. Radio waves specifically prove to be a very good comparison. Now the Soul Perception ability, being far less rare than it once was, is like having a little transceiver in your brain that processes the wavelength of the soul as well as the little vibrations to paint a picture of the soul that your brain can interpret. These signals are interpreted as a visual stimulus by the brain because the signal is closest in comparison to visual light. We used to compare it to sound waves, but that hypothesis has since been disproven.” Professor Theba turns back to the board and writes more information on the board for emphasis.

“Sir, how does the relationship between meister and weapon work with soul wavelengths being what they are?” Romelle asks from her usual spot at the front of the room with Hunk.

“Coran and Kolivan can better elaborate on the practical side of this but the gist of it is that a meister and a weapon have wavelengths that compliment each other. This is obvious but the way they compliment each other is to be similar enough to feed off of each other. Soul Resonance is the combination of the two wavelengths into a singular one that is then useable in a tangible form. It was believed that the weapon especially was responsible for the merging of the two wavelengths, which is in a sense true. Weapons are more suited to using their wavelengths outside of themselves in harmony with their weapon gene, this makes it easier for them to use their own wavelengths to piggyback their meister’s and amplify it in a positive feedback loop. This loop allows for the power behind Soul Resonance and the ‘special moves’ that can be used through resonance.” Slav explains, attempting to draw the loop on the board but mostly just making a weird circle with arrows around it.

“So, using the sound parallel as a conceptual example, the weapon is like an amp for an electric guitar in that it makes the wavelength of the meister ‘louder’ but can still make a sound on it’s own as well?” Ryan asks.

“Though I don’t care for the sound parallel, you are exactly right Mr. Kinkade.” Slav nods and turns back to the board.

Lance scribbles away in his notebook in an attempt to keep up with the ramblings of their (surprisingly sane today) teacher. Matt makes his own, slightly neater notes beside him. He has a bit of an advantage in this class, seeing as his parents are renowned DWMA operatives as well as major contributors to the field of Plasmology. Knowing he doesn’t have to pay as much attention, he allows himself to zone out a bit and focus on the souls around them.

His partner’s soul in particular is something he can’t help but look at. It’s grown brighter in the days they’ve known each other, the dark blue in the centre seeming to lighten as time passes. The fact that he’s making a name for himself outside of his siblings’ shadows probably a factor in the change.

The brightness brings a small smile to Matt’s face that he hides by turning back to his notebook and tuning back into the lecture. He likes helping make his partner happy.

~~~~~~~~

“So, you two, outside of your regular lessons and your extra lessons required because of your both beings weapons, want extra training in order to enter the festival tournament?” professor Moraic looks at them with his eyebrows raised as he clarifies.

“Yes sir, we know that being first year EAT students puts us at a bit of a disadvantage but with resonance coming so quickly to us, we figured having a goal to strive for coming up so soon, it would provide us with the motivation and the opportunity to get it under control before it becomes a problem. You said so yourself last week that it is dangerous to us and others if left unchecked.” Matt explains, meeting Kolivan’s eye while Lance stands nervously beside him. The younger boy clutches his hand tightly, the meister still making him a bit nervous.

“I don’t see any issue with adding in some extra training to your schedule if you boys are aware of what you’re signing yourselves up for.” Coran adds from his spot in the chair behind the desk of his office.

Coran is who they’d originally come to speak to since he is their homeroom teacher. Finding Kolivan had been a shock, the serious teacher jumping right into the conversation.

“We know it’s going to be a lot of work, especially with the festival being a little over a month away, but we’ve been talking about it since the first day and we’ve both decided it’s something we want to work towards.” Lance says quietly, making eye contact with Coran.

Kolivan looks at both boys for a moment before sighing, “alright. If you’re willing to put in the work, then there’s no reason to stop you. Give us a few days to work out a schedule for your additional training and we’ll be able to get started. You may also want to speak to professor Naleq for extra tutoring as well. The other competitors will be leagues ahead of you both in terms of fighting experience and if you want to stand a chance, you’re going to need his help as well.”

Matt and Lance nod vigorously in acknowledgement of their stoic teacher’s words. Coran smiles at the pair and they’re dismissed from the weapon’s office moments later.

“Death Festival, here we come.” Lance grins at Matt.

“They’re not going to know what hit them.” Matt grins back as they make their way down the hall to the staircase so they can grab their things and head home for the day.

~~~~~~~~

Lance is laying on the couch in their living room avoiding the readings he needs to do for ‘Plasmology’, Matt making dinner for the pair of them, when their door buzzes.

Neither boy is expecting anyone, and they share a look. Lance shrugs before getting up and heading to their answering box on the pillar in the middle of their main floor.

They hear the buzzing noise again before a voice comes through the speaker.

“Lance, I know you’re home! Answer the door and let me in!” Lance groans at the voice. He presses the button to answer.

“You know there’s only one panel to answer you right? And this is a decently large apartment? I couldn’t have ignored you either because I didn’t even know you were coming!” Lance snaps. He pushes the button to let the person in before they can retort.

He turns to look at his partner sheepishly, “So Matt, how do you feel about meeting my sister?”

Matt just looks at him for a minute, stunned. He shrugs.

“I mean? I was going to have to at some point, right? Might as well be now. A heads-up would have been nice though, cause we definitely do not have enough food for another person.” Matt chuckles.

Before Lance can reply, they hear a knock on the door. Lance rolls his eyes before turning back around to let his older sister in.

“Lance! Took you long enough!” Veronica McClain exclaims, “Now, invite me in!”

“As much of a bloodsucker as you are Veronica, you’re not a vampire.” Lance snarks, stepping back to let her in anyway.

“I resent that comment baby brother. Where is this infamous partner I’ve heard literally nothing about? I bet Adam had a fucking conniption when he found out.” Veronica looks around the front entry trying to catch a glimpse of Matt.

“If you must know, he’s in the kitchen making dinner. If you had told me you were coming, we could have made sure there was enough for you too.” Lance points out, leading his sister farther into the main floor of their apartment, after she’s taken off her shoes.

“You mean to tell me you got yourself a meister that cooks for you? What otherworldly being did you do to make that happen?” Veronica snorts.

They make it to the kitchen before Lance can say anything else.

“Hey Veronica! How have you been?” Matt calls, turning around to face the McClain siblings.

Veronica stops dead in her tracks, Lance moves forward to peer at what Matt’s putting together on the counter.

“…Wait a fucking minute. Matthew Holt? What the hell are you doing here?” She stares at the boys, gobsmacked.

“He’s my partner dumbass.” Lance scoffs over his shoulder.

“Holy shit, we really are cursed with notoriety. You two are the weapon pair I’ve been hearing so much about! How in the hell did that happen and how did Adam react‽” Veronica turns sharply to ask her brother. Matt can see the stars in her eyes at the prospect of their older brother’s reaction.

“He was surprisingly okay with it. I think the fact that I’m also a weapon softened the whole partner thing for him. Though he definitely gave me the third degree while Lance was looking at the apartment listings, and that was after the argument in front of the school.” Matt takes the bowl he’s been working on and moves over to the stove on their kitchen’s island.

“Argument?” Veronica looks between the two boys expectantly.

“Yeah, we had to get some of the teachers out to give us the okay to even become partners in the first place and Adam came along. He kind of screamed at me? It really bothered him when Matt told him to back off though, which was awesome.” Lance says distracted by trying to get around Matt to sneak a sample of the food. An already difficult task made more difficult by them having unconsciously linked their hands together.

Veronica stares at their interlocked fingers, “Adam doesn’t take well to being defied, especially since we moved out here. He may not be the oldest, but he sure acts like it.” She huffs.

“I mean, I get it? He’s our older brother which means since mom and dad aren’t here, he probably feels responsible for our safety and everything. He’s seen more than his fair share of the dangers; I’d be protective too.” Lance shrugs. He squeezes Matt’s hand when Veronica scoffs.

“There’s a difference between protective and controlling Lance—” he rounds on her before she can finish.

“Do you see him here? Do you see him anywhere in this apartment? In anything that is here?” Veronica shakes her head no, “That’s because he isn’t here. I made the choice to go to the partner choosing event on my own. I found my partner on my own. Our brother has every right not to trust the meister/weapon system with how many weapons die for their partners. I don’t like how he’s reacted but he’s dealing with untreated trauma and as much as we need to stand up for ourselves, that doesn’t mean we treat him like he’s the enemy. We are the only family we have out here.” Lance snaps. He lets go of Matt’s hand and stomps out of the kitchen and up the staircase.

Veronica watches after her brother, eyes wide in surprise.

Matt watches his partner leave. He felt the anger and hurt rise in Lance at his sister’s words. He’s not entirely sure what just happened but it feels like an old argument that the McClain siblings have had many times before.

“Matt? Don’t let Adam get in your head. He’s never liked the idea of us having partners and at some point, he will try and force you to leave Lance. He tried with Nadya and he will try with you too. Don’t let him control Lance. He’s been filling his head with nonsense since we got here and Lance can’t see it, he follows Adam blindly and it’s hurting him.” Veronica explains quietly.

Matt stares at his partner’s older sister. She was his classmate two years ago when they were both in the NOT class, before she met Nadya and transferred. Lance doesn’t talk much about his family, the ones out here with him and the ones at the home he had to leave behind and it’s evident now that this is the reason why. Both siblings want what’s best for their younger brother, but neither ever wants to listen to him.

Matt snorts and shakes his head ruefully, “You have no idea what’s hurting him.”

Veronica’s head snaps up, she looks at him in shock and growing anger, “I think I know my brother Matt.”

“I don’t think either of you know him as well as you think. Sure, he looks up to Adam, he looks up to you too, but he is in no way controlled by him. Lance takes what Adam says with a grain of salt and forms his own opinions. You just don’t like that he defends your older brother. You don’t like that he’s not entirely on your side and you’ve been trying to sway his opinion by talking shit about Adam. I don’t much like your older brother, he didn’t exactly make a good impression, but I know Lance and it’s not just Adam that’s hurting him.” Matt says calmly.

“Now, I think, that the best thing right now is for you to leave. I have a partner to take care of, who’s wavelength is buzzing right now with the upset you’ve caused.” He suggests, in that same calm but stern voice. The look he gives Veronica is no less than steel.

She huffs indignantly before turning sharply on her heel and stomping back towards the front door. Seconds later Matt hears the slam of the door closing. He makes sure the burners on the stove are off before moving quickly up the spiral staircase to go find his partner.

Lance’s bedroom door is wide open, and Matt can see him curled up on his bed back towards the doorway. He knocks on the door lightly, loud enough that Lance can hear it but not loud enough to sound angry.

“Lance? Can I come in?” Lance doesn’t turn to look at him but lifts his right hand up behind him and makes a grabbing motion. Matt takes the hint and moves quickly to grab the hand and sit himself on the bed, next to Lance.

His partner isn’t crying, but his wavelength and his soul are fuzzy with turmoil.

“Do you want to talk about what just happened? You don’t have to, but I’m here if you want to.” Matt says softly, rubbing his thumb over Lance’s knuckles to offer a bit more comfort.

“I just don’t like being in the middle of their stupid dick measuring contest. They both have to always be right and anything else is awful and bad. I don’t want to choose a side because they both have reasons and good arguments for why they do what they do, but they keep trying to make me the deciding vote and I don’t want any part of it.” Lance bites out, frustrated. “The worst part is that shit she says about Adam. He doesn’t say anything bad about her, he just disagrees, but she takes every chance she can to attack him directly. She says Adam tried to convince Nadya to break their partnership, but I was there. He essentially gave her the shovel talk, told her to protect Veronica like she expects Veronica to protect her and if she wasn’t prepared to do that, then she should find a new partner. Veronica walked in on that last bit and freaked out. She refuses to talk about it now.” He explains, tone soft.

“You know, you don’t have to deal with all of this family crap alone anymore. I’m your partner, which means I’ve got your back, no matter what.” Matt points out cheekily. Lance snorts.

“Thanks Matt.” He pauses, “…Will you uh… Will you hold me?” Lance asks nervously, still not looking at Matt.

Matt raises an eyebrow at the question. “Is that what you need to feel better?” Lance nods, “Then okay.”

He climbs up onto the bed, moving over Lance so that he can face the younger boy, and lays down. He opens his arms and Lance scoots closer so that Matt can wrap his arms around Lance, just loose enough to be easy to move, but tight enough to offer the safety and comfort Lance seems to need.

The younger weapon sighs and lets his eyes fall shut.

“Better?” Matt asks. Lance nods.

“Good. Dinner is pretty much done anyways so we can heat it up later when you’re feeling up to eating. Sound good?” Lance nods again.

They fall into a comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIKE PUNS EVERYBODY. I also like Musicals, thus Dear Evan Hanson has made an appearance in chapter title form. Heh, wave puns. I'm a Linguist so sound and waves is something I deal with a lot and I really like playing with that concept.
> 
> Let me know what you thought!!!! I love hearing from you guys!
> 
> (I've noticed things getting a little quiet in this tag lately so I gotta say, hell yeah to all my fellow Latte lovers! Keep rocking and rolling, and as long as you're still around, I'll still be here making content! Which reminds me, I have like 4 stories that are like almost done, I should finish those...... XD)


	4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the tournament drawing ever closer, Lance and Matt get into training with a vengeance. Something in the sands is shifting and tensions rise at the DWMA. Lines are drawn and redrawn. Get ready Keith, they're coming for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! I'm back! After a very long time.... I know it sucks but this story is not going to be abandoned! Life is just kind of fucked for me right now. There's issues with my university so I can't finish my degree yet and I broke my foot a couple weeks ago so everything has gotten very stressful in a hurry. I'm doing okay mental health wise which is new but I think the time away from school is helping. I've lost a lot of my drive to write fic in general and the last couple days have been the most I've written in months. Hopefully with the inspiration I've got right now I can get some serious work done and it won't be so ling between updates again. 
> 
> ANYWAY! Short update, because I like where this ended and the next chapter has some fun stuff I didn't want in this chapter. ONWARD

The targets across the shooting range are littered with burnt holes, all in close groupings on the target. It’s the first time they’ve had the chance for Lance to pull his trigger and the results are incredibly promising.

“Nice shooting Lance!” Matt praises from the weapon space he’s occupied for the last 20 minutes.

Lance smiles lightly at the compliment from his partner before he puts Matt down on the bench in front of him. He reaches over to the button that will return his target to him for inspection.

The target they chose to work with today is a simple bullseye, with four smaller bullseyes in the corners surrounding the main circle. The main circle has three clusters of holes, all close to the center but not quite a true bullseye. The smaller targets are similarly riddled but the groupings cover most of the smaller targets because of their size.

“Considering I’ve never fired a rifle before, demon or not, I’m not mad at our results so far.” Lance smiles confidently at his partner, still sitting on the bench in weapon form.

“Dude, there’s a reason military snipers are so specialized, it takes a lot of time and effort to master being so precise. This is your first try and I think you’ve got a knack for it.” Matt’s voice sounds tinny from the weapon space, but the joy and shear level of impressed the older boy is comes through loud and clear.

Lance tries to ignore the light burn of embarrassment he feels on his cheeks. The praise feels good though. Neither of his siblings can fire a gun with any accuracy and being good at something they aren’t? Yeah, that feels really good.

“That is some excellent shooting Number 5, though I’m not sure a sniper rifle would be the best choice for the tournament.” Comes a voice right next to Lance.

Lance jumps at the sound of their teacher’s voice so close to his ear.

“Professor Smythe!” Matt and Lance exclaim at the same time, Matt more audibly excited than Lance.

“Good afternoon boys! I’m glad to see you both working so diligently to improve. From that target I can see that you have a knack for sharpshooting Number 5. Though I’m not sure how much help that skill will be during the Death Festival; most of the pairs who have entered already are close to mid-range combatants.” Coran explains brightly, twisting his mustache with his right hand.

A bright light shines from the bench as Matt returns to human form, “but professor, a long-range weapon could also be an advantage in that situation. We could feasibly take them out before they get in range and besides, we’re both weapons, we can switch mid-fight if need be to take on that challenge.” He argues.

“As effective of a strategy as that would be, and I would recommend perfecting it for battle, being able to switch between the two of you isn’t fair to the other pairs competing as you are the only pair consisting of two weapons.”

Lance and Matt share a look, “so what you’re saying is that we need to choose which one of us is going to be the weapon for each match?” Lance asks.

“The rest of the staff are still deliberating on the specifics, but it seems you’d need to choose for the whole tournament. You more than likely will not be allowed to switch from match to match. Got to keep things as fair as possible after all.” Coran says matter-of-factly pointing sharply upward.

Lance doesn’t realize he’s reached for his partner until he feels Matt’s fingers close around his own and squeeze.

“Do we have a deadline for when we have to have chosen by?” Matt asks, looking at Lance’s hand caught in his own.

Coran pauses, bringing his hand up to his chin in deliberation, “I’d assume the day before the festival at the latest. The matchups will have been decided beforehand by lots, so it doesn’t make much difference until you’re actually in the tournament.”

“Well then, I guess we’ll see what we feel like doing when we get there, huh Lance?” Matt grins easily at his partner.

Lance grins back, “you bet!”

Coran smiles at the problem children before turning away to leave the boys to their training. He’ll have to talk to Kolivan about their schedule. The boys are going to need something a little different than the normal program they had in mind. Already changing things up and it’s only been a week.

The Death Festival is going to be very interesting this year.

~~~~~~~~

The desert surrounding Death City is truly a gift from Mother Nature herself. There are so many rocky outcroppings and little explored areas that Death himself doesn’t know about, that can be used. Enemies of Death could hide easily in the sandy hills, right under his nose. After all, the best place to hide is in plain sight, isn’t it?

Her little rat is in place in that wretched school, sending updates of useless information regularly. They’re more for keeping an eye on things rather than learning anything new anyways. The latest report was interesting though, new students with some interesting potential. They could also prove useful later on, but time will tell on that. Right now, her focus is on a much more important tidbit of information.

An old friend has made herself known.

Everything is right on schedule.

~~~~~~~~

The next two weeks of classes seem to fly by for Matt. He’s finally doing exactly what he wants to do for the rest of his life. He’s got a great partner who compliments him better than he ever thought his future partner could, them both being weapons and so in tune with each other is a bonus.

They’ve got his sights set on the Death Festival tournament and a solid shot at making it to at least the quarter finals. A couple other pairs from their class have also expressed a desire to compete and Matt can’t wait to see how the whole tournament goes.

On this fine Tuesday, he’s practically skipping down the halls of The DWMA towards the cafeteria. He wanted to ask professor Theba a few more questions after Soul Studies so he sent Lance ahead to meet their friends. They’ve been working on the whole physical-discomfort-when-not-touching thing and trying not to spend every waking moment in each other’s company. Missions when they graduate won’t allow them that luxury and the sooner, they get used to that, the more prepared they’ll be when they have to be separated later on. It was actually Lance’s idea and as much as Matt hates being away from his younger partner, it’s a really good idea.

Class Crescent Moon is on the 3rd floor, along with the offices of the teachers of both class streams and he’s coming down the stairs when he hears an angry voice near the doors of the 2nd floor EAT classroom. He keeps his footsteps quiet as he nears the bottom of the staircase, because even though he really wants to get to lunch and Lance, he doesn’t want to walk right into a fight

“The kid shouldn’t even be in the program! I mean talk about nepotism; his brother is the headmaster’s pet agent so of course an exception would be made for him! The rest of us had to find an actual partner!” the angry voice, obviously male now that Matt is actually listening, growls.

“There aren’t any rules that say they can’t be a pair dude; besides he and I had an agreement. Sure, it sucks that we couldn’t be partners but if the guy has a better resonance rate with someone else, who am I to get in the way of that? It would cause Dissonance between the two of us and that’s nothing to build a partnership on.” A voice that sounds familiar retorts.

“There’s a reason the weapon and meister system was put in place Kinkade, if weapons could just partner with other weapons there’d be no reason for meisters to exist in the first place.” the first voice snaps again.

“Kinkade? Ryan then. Well that explains why that voice is so familiar. But if they’re talking about Ryan and partners then this conversation is about Lance.” Matt thinks as he continues to creep down the stairs. The idea that someone is complaining so bitterly about his partner has him on edge.

“And there are exceptions to every rule Griffin. Maka and Soul Evans were one of the greatest pairs this school has ever seen and they both had active weapon genes. There wasn’t an issue with it then and there isn’t an issue with it now.” Ryan argues back.

“Ryan is correct, Soul and Maka Evans were both very strong weapons and never partnered with anyone other than each other. Though Maka Evan’s weapon gene didn’t activate until later on in their school years.” A feminine voice interjected.

“And they wouldn’t break up such a strong pair for anything, but that doesn’t change the fact that they weren’t partnered together knowing they were both weapons. It’s not the same situation. Lance McClain and Matt Holt have no reason to be partnered together other than favouritism from the staff cause of McClain’s older brother. The spoiled brat probably doesn’t even know how lucky he is to be compatible with you Ryan.” Griffin argues, smirking at his taller friend as Matt finally comes to the bottom of the staircase.

“You know, you shouldn’t make baseless claims without even a little evidence. Especially in the middle of a school where student duels are sanctioned with teacher supervision.” Matt drawls as he walks into the open area of the hallway, hands in his pockets to look as nonchalant as possible.

The four people standing in the classroom doorway stare at him, shocked at his sudden appearance. Matt meets all of their stares individually, recognising James Griffin, Ina Leifsdotter and Nadya Rizavi from his days in the same NOT class as well as Ryan.

“To have the guts to not only insult the younger brother of your friend’s partner, but to do it in full earshot of said brother’s partner? You really have no self-preservation instincts do you James?” Matt asks, tilting his head with the question.

“Hey, I call it like I see it Holt. McClain choosing you over Ryan is ridiculous and everyone knows it. I’m not the only one who thinks it’s unnatural, I’m just the only one willing to say it out loud.” James barks defensively.

Neither Ryan nor Nadya say anything.

“You’ve always been an over eager idiot when it comes to people not doing what you expect. Quick to judge for no reason and with little to no evidence.” Matt shakes his head to emphasize his displeasure. “As one of the parties involved in the issue that so vexes you James, how about we take this time to gather some evidence. My resonance rate with Lance is so strong, the teachers measured it, that we almost hit full resonance with just a basic exercise. But if you don’t believe that, how about we duel it out? Lance and I against you and miss Leifsdotter.” Matt proposes, eyes meeting James’ with challenging smirk.

“You’re on Holt. Ina and I have no problem kicking the asses of some weak little first years!” James agrees immediately.

“James don’t. This is a bad idea.” Nadya finally speaks up.

“Too late Rizavi,” Matt turns his warm eyes to look at her and sees her stiffen up, “besides, Lance and I have been looking for a good challenge before we take on the tournament. Ronnie will be so excited.”

The girl flinches at the mention of her partner, eyes darting away from Matt’s.

If there’s one thing Matt has learned in the last three weeks of being Lance’s partner, it’s that his siblings are wildly overprotective. Adam especially, but Veronica will not take kindly to finding out her meister has been involved in conversations badmouthing Lance, where Nadya isn’t defending him.

“Just give us the where and when Holt. We’ll see if your spoiled little partner can handle the pressure of a real fight.” James smirks, confidence oozing off him in waves.

“Luckily for you, Lance and I don’t have any extra training this afternoon, so how about the main training field after final bell?”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll grab a teacher to sanction the duel.” James says as he steps up to Matt.

“See you after final bell James.” Matt grins brightly.

“Get ready to get your asses handed to you Holt.” James brushes past the taller boy, hitting his shoulder in something Matt thinks is supposed to be intimidation, before walking down the hall to the Cafeteria.

The other three look warily at Matt before the two girls follow after Griffin. Ryan stays and looks towards Matt; whose eyes follow the trio down the hall.

“How much of that entire conversation did you hear?” the shorter boy asks.

“Enough to know that you need better friends Ryan.” Ryan smiles ruefully at that. “I also heard enough to firmly say, defending our ability to be partners and defending Lance, are different things. It sucks to have a potential partner taken from you and you’ve done well in respecting his choice in the matter, but I have to say from that conversation, I’ve lost a bit of respect for you as a person.”

Ryan nods, expecting something like that.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for lunch and Hunk always makes the best food.” Matt nods to Ryan before taking his leave of the younger boy.

As soon as he is sure Ryan can’t see him, he smacks his hands to his face and drags them down in frustration. Lance is going to kill him for this.

~~~~~~~~

“You did WHAT‽” Lance shrieks.

“I, uh, set up a duel for us this afternoon. With a couple students from another class.” Matt answers, not daring to look Lance in the eyes. He’s already on thin ice, he doesn’t want to sign his own death warrant.

“A duel. You set up a duel with another pair. What the actual hell brought this on and who the hell are we fighting?” Lance grills him, clearly pissed. The giggles from their friends draw Lance’s anger to Pidge and Keith in particular.

“Well, there’s more to it than that. I actually came across a few people being dicks about our partnership and one of them got all up in my face, so I just kinda challenged him and his partner to a duel this afternoon.” Lance does not calm down with this new information. It actually looks like he gets angrier.

“It was Ryan and his friends from the second-year class. A tiny blonde girl who didn’t talk much, your sister’s partner and a loudmouth with a dumb haircut named Griffin.” Keith perks up at that.

“James Griffin? You challenged James Griffin to a duel?” the knife meister asks, suddenly more invested in the whole conversation.

“Yeah, asshole was being a dick. I couldn’t just let that slide and I mean, we could use the practice for the tournament anyways.” Matt shrugs. Lance is practically vibrating in anger beside him.

“You can’t enter the tournament. First years aren’t allowed. Besides, you’d get your butts kicked in the first round. The duel with James is just going to be practice for getting your asses handed to you in the tournament.” Keith says matter-of-factly.

Lance rounds on the older boy immediately, “For your fucking information Kogane, first years _can_ enter the tournament. And not only are we entering, we’ll see you in the fucking finals. After we kick James Griffin’s ass this afternoon. I expect you to be there to watch our victory, unless of course you’re too scared.” Lance smirks. Keith doesn’t disappoint, angry flush rising on his cheeks as he takes the bait.

“Why would I want to watch you lose to a half-rate meister like Griffin?” Keith barks back.

“You’re just afraid of how good Matt and I are together. You should probably use this chance to take notes so that you’ll stand a chance at the tournament.” Lance says snidely, leaning into Keith’s space with his hands on his hips.

Keith doesn’t a chance to retort because Shiro grabs his little brother and drags his butt back into his seat.

“Enough you two. Matt wouldn’t have considered the duel in the first place if he didn’t believe they had a chance. And Lance is right Keith, first-years can absolutely enter the Death Festival tournament they just usually don’t because the other classes have an advantage.” Shiro turns to Lance and Matt, “We’ll be there to cheer you on this afternoon. I’m assuming training field after last bell?” Matt nods, “Awesome.”

The conversation drops away after that, but Matt knows he’s still in shit. He shouldn’t have set up anything without Lance’s approval. They are a pair after all.

Too late now.

~~~~~~~~

“So, a duel with James Griffin huh?” Lance asks as they sit down in their usual seats, waiting for professor Naleq to walk through the doors for their strategy lesson of the day.

“I know, it was a dumb thing to do, but I genuinely think we can beat him. His partner is a tactical rifle and he’s shit and close quarters. We’ve been working so much on switching mid fight recently that I figure that alone is a huge advantage. He’s also expecting us to be complete noobs because he has no idea the work, we’ve been putting in outside of class.” Matt explains quickly to defend himself.

Lance sighs, “You know, I’m less upset about the fight part and more pissed you didn’t tell me before you did it. I know it was spur of the moment but we’re a team Matt. We should be making decisions like that together.”

“I know and it was dumb. But we’ve got a solid training opportunity out of it which we need. Training alone can only get us so far; it’ll be nice to see how we stack up to a pair that’s actually had field experience.”

“Fine. You’re right, it will be a good opportunity and I can’t exactly say that a chance to kick that dickhead’s ass isn’t appealing. I don’t like being talked about behind my back and I’ve had enough of it the last few weeks to last a lifetime.” Lance finally agrees, smiling a bit at his partner.

He doesn’t comment when Ryan walks in and sits down at another bench in the room.

Moments later professor Naleq walks into the room with his customary grin on his face and the pair settle into taking notes.

Halfway through class their hands find each other in a fit of nerves and a reminder that, yeah, they’re okay.

James Griffin and Ina Leifsdotter won’t know what hit them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Matt and Lance Take on James and Ina! We find out a little bit more about the tournament, and maybe some actual plot development?   
> It's gonna be wild!
> 
> Let me know what you're thinking! Comment, Kudos, whatever! I'm available and willing to be screamed at.
> 
> Also sidenote, if any of you guys were around the tag this time last year, the Latte discord is thinking of bringing Latte Week back again! I'm going to be participating again but let me know what you guys think on that!

**Author's Note:**

> I really want to know what you guys think of this one so far! I shoved a tonne of lore into this chapter to set up for those who aren't as familiar with Soul Eater as I am, so I hope it wasn't too bad. My update schedule is sporadic at best but I don't abandon my works so this will be updated, do not fret!
> 
> Let me know what you thought! I'm a little nervous about this project so any feedback is exciting for me, comments, kudos, or hits.


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